LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


THE  LINCOLN  TETRALOGY 

BY 

DENTON  J.  SNIDER. 

A  national  epos  in  four  separate  poems  cor- 
responding to  the  chief  epochs  of  Lincoln's 
career,  and  setting  forth  especially  his  inner  life 
and  its  transformations  along  with  the  outer 
events  of  his  time. 

I.  Lincoln  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 
The  first  pivotal  episode  in  Lin- 
coln's evolution,  written  in  free 
rhymed  tetrameters $1.50 

IL  Lincoln  and  Ann  Rutledge.  The 
love  idyl  of  Lincoln's  life,  written 
in  hexameters 1.50 

III.  Lincoln  in  the  White  House.    Lin- 

coln's development  through  inner 
and  outer  conflict  to  his  national 
greatness — blank  verse  and  prose       1.50 

IV.  Lincoln  at  Richmond,  portraying  his 

last  days  of  triumph  and  tragedy 

(to  appear  in  1913) 1.50 


LINCOLN 


IN   THE 


WHITE   HOUSE 


A  Dramatic  Epos  of  the  Civil  War 


BY 

DENTON  J.  SNIDER 


ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 

SIGMA  PUBLISHING  CO. 

210  PINE  ST. 

For  Sale  by  A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 
Booksellers,  Chicago,  Ills. 


<  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

■ —  Page 

^  Book  First. 

Lincoln  and  Douglas 5 

Book  Second. 

Lincoln  with  Himself 32 

Book  Third. 

The  Lower  Cabinet 44 

Book  Fourth. 

The  Upper  Cabinet 53 

Book  Fifth. 

The  First  Proclamation 60 

Book  Sixth. 

Mother  Virginia 74 

Book  Seventh. 

Lee  and  Thomas 94 

Book  Eighth. 

The  First  Tragedy 110 

Book  Ninth. 

The  Backwoods'  Sage 141 

Book  Tenth. 

The  Fatal  Line .163 

Book  Eleventh. 

Lincoln's  Double  Dragon  Fight  .  .  .  .  179 
Book  Twelfth. 

The  Fightless  Dictator 208 

(3) 


Table  of  Contents. 

Page 

Book  Thieteenth. 

The  Fatal  Line  Broken 222 

Book  Fourteenth. 

Lincoln 's  Lament  Over  His  Son  ....     .     244 

Book  Fifteenth. 

Lincoln  at  Harrison's  Landing    .       .     .     261 

Book  Sixteenth. 

The  South 's  Resurgence 280 

Book  Seventeenth. 

The  Second  Proclamation 295 

Book  Eighteenth, 

Mother  Virginia  Again 310 

Book  Nineteenth. 

At  Antietam 329 

Book  Twentieth. 

Lincoln's  Return  from  Antietam    .     .     .     341 

Book  Twenty-First. 

The  New  Dictatorship  ".__._•  •  •  •  ^48 
Book  Twenty-Secont). 

Lincoln's  Curse 359 

Book  Twenty-Third. 

The  Fourth  of  July,  1863 373 

Book  Twenty-Fourth. 

Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg 381 

Historic  Intimations 394 

(4) 


laoli  Jfirst. 


Lincoln  and  Douglas. 

In  his  new  home,  heart  of  the  Capital, 
The  central  habitation  of  the  land, 
Seat  of  the  Nation's  will  in  act  supreme, 
Known  as  the  White-House  to  the  folk, 
Lincoln  uneasy  lounged  upon  his  chair 
"With  perturbations  bubbled  from  the  deep, 
Waiting  and  watching  in  reposeless  hope 
For  whom  or  what  or  why  he  hardly  knew. 
Still  he  had  presage  of  one  man's  approach, 
Though  with  an  Alp  of  longing  on  his  heart 
Which  seemed  to  crush  and  prison  him  just  there, 
As  he  upheaved  his  soul 's  foreboding  sighs : 
"There  is  a  Presence  here,  although  unseen, 
It  haunts  me  with  unknown  expectancy 

(5) 


6      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

Of  some  great  visitor  on  -whom  turns  time 
When  huge  events  break  over  to  new  channels. 
It  bids  me  watch  and  will  not  let  me  go; 
It  weights  me  down  if  I  but  start  to  leave ; 
Still  I  must  take  a  look  upon  the  heavens 
From  here,  and  yet  I  dare  not  quit  this  House. ' ' 

So  Lincoln  straightened  out  his  stature  tall 

"With  slow  sheer  strength  uprising  from  his  seat 

As  if  he  would  upbear  a  new-born  world 

In  mighty  Atlantean  sufferance, 

Strode  to  the  window  for  a  heart-worn  glance 

And  gazed  into  the  welkin  overhead 

Darkening  before  him  round  the  distant  hills. 

It  was  an  April  day  of  sultry  mood 

Wliich  lowered  on  the  streets  of  Washington, 

And  twilight  slyly  drew  a  lengthening  veil 

Over  the  bosom  of  the  Capitol 

Wliose  sovereign  dome,  unfinished  still, 

Now  in  the  stress  of  being  built  complete, 

Played  with  the  passing  clouds  a  spectral  dance 

And  threw  fantastic  shapes  athwart  the  sky. 

At  which  the  hurried  multitude  would  gaze. 

Turning  around  just  for  a  breath's  quick  wonder. 

Then  onward  seethed  and  surged  the  other  way, 

Facing  the  mansion  of  the  President, 

Whose  light  was  flickering  fitful  on  the  gloom. 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  7 

Who  is  the  man  there  pushing  through  the  mass 

"Which  rages  round  the  White-House  in  huge  waves 

Of  human  atoms  lashed  to  furious  storm 

As  by  some  elemental  power  driven? 

He  dives  forthright  through  the  dense  whirl  of  life, 

His  features  are  drawn  tense  with  resolution, 

His  shaggy  locks  are  not  sleeked  down  to-day 

But  flap  about  his  lion-head  in  wrath ; 

The  billowy  crowd  yields  way  to  his  set  face. 

As  if  a  battle-ship  cut  through  the  foam 

To  reach  the  opposing  obstacle  for  fight. 

All  scan  him  well  as  he  goes  sweeping  on. 

With  anxious  quest  of  look:  What  will  he  do? 

For  from  his  will  hangs  balancing  the  Nation, 

Aye  more,  the  world's  futurity  is  his 

Awhile  to-day  to  pivot  on  his  deed. 

His  steadied  stride  swerves  not  to  right  nor  left. 

Straight  to  the  mark  he  shoots  his  body's  bullet. 

Not  large,  but  rounded  full  of  force  and  combat. 

Upon  the  steps  he  mounts  and  treads  the  sill. 

Bearing  with  him  a  node  of  History 

If  he  could  only  see  himself  in  act. 

A  ling-time  friend  has  pushed  to  touch  his  arm, 

And    breathe    request:      "Let    me    go    with    you 

thither?" 
Firm- worded  fell  the  answer :  ' '  No !  alone 
I  must  be  there  to-day — just  two — and  God." 
Then  through  the  crowded  waiting-room  he  slips 


8        LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

Shot  at  by  glances  of  inquiring  eyes, 
To  where  the  usher  bids  him  enter  in. 

That  man  was  Douglas  named,  of  Illinois, 

Renowned  the  Senate's  greatest  Senator, 

Now  speeding  to  this  new-born  task,  his  last 

And  highest  for  his  country's  future  weal, 

"When  news  had  come  that  Sumter  had  been  fired  on. 

He  hastens  to  the  chosen  President, 

His  life-long  rival  in  the  race  he  lost 

For  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  land. 

Who  now  sits  swajdng  to  and  fro  in  doubt, 

To  offer  loyal  service  of  himself. 

And  all  whom  his  example  might  inspire — 

A  million  stalwart  votes  and  more  he  polled 

Last  fall  through  his  sheer  personality. 

As  he  takes  off  his  hat  and  shakes  his  mane, 

His  leonine  mane  and  heavy-chested  trunk, 

Leaning  aback  as  ready  for  a  spring. 

Behold !  Lincoln  appears  with  look  released 

Suddenly  to  a  dimpled  flow  of  joys — 

They,  living  counterparts  of  one  another 

In  stature,  shape,  and  contour  of  the  face, 

Opposites  even  to  the  hand  and  hair. 

All  of  their  former  days  they  stood  apart 

And  were  at  odds  in  the  whole  game  of  life ; 

But  now  they  seem  to  fit  symmetrical. 

To  harmonize  their  dissonance's  jar 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  Q 

Into  one  melody  of  mind  and  mould 
And  integrate  two  souls  in  one  great  cause, 
Two  mighty  men  turned  to  the  superman 
In  sudden  mutual  clasp  of  heart  and  hand. 

There  stood  the  twain  together  like  tower  and  base, 

One  with  an  overlook,  one  with  support, 

Both  felt  the  Nation's  mighty  clash  within 

Tearing  their  hearts  by  its  discordant  throes, 

Yet  slowly  turning  to  a  deeper  unison, 

When  Lincoln  was  the  first  to  utter  speech : 

"Long  separate,  but  now  the  more  united 

In  that  last  bond  which  kins  all  patriots. 

Bond  of  the  Union's  life  here  in  us  sealed ! 

Perchance  the  bond  too  of  our  destiny 

Yet  to  be  written  in  our  very  blood ! 

Of  all  men  in  the  world  I  wished  for  you 

Just  you — I  was  then  praying  for  your  presence 

When  the  high  Powers  brought  you  in  response. 

For  at  the  bottom  of  my  heart's  best  hope 

Is  bubbling  now  my  glad  presentiment 

That  this  our  union  may  foreshadow  too 

Eestored  Union  of  our  States  distract 

With  a  new  birthdom  of  the  Nation  whole. ' ' 

Douglas  with  rising  throat,  untongued  of  speech, 
Clasped  his  old  rival's  hand  in  silent  yes. 
He  had  begun  to  have  his  far-off  gleams 


10      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

Out  of  a  world  beyond  the  common  ken, 
Though  not  addicted  to  a  rapturous  strain 
In  the  stern  business  of  his  word  and  deed. 
Yet  the  strong  moment  drives  him  soon  to  utter 
What  has  been  lurking  long  unvoiced  within : 
' '  Lincoln,  beforehand  let  me  say  you  this : 
In  that  debate  with  you  some  two  years  since. 
Despite  the  fierce  encounter  of  our  wits, 
I  felt  our  deeper  oneness  underneath 
The  outer  flash  and  stroke  of  sword-like  tongues, 
E'en  had  forewarnings  of  this  very  hour. 
And,  Lincoln,  you  possess  the  gift  of  love. 
Can  rouse  its  throbs  in  every  human  soul 
"Who  hears  your  voice  or  looks  upon  your  face. ' ' 

Lincoln  stared  melting  at  the  frank  avowal, 
And  flowed  at  once  into  a  like  acknowledgment, 
Trembling  about  his  lips  with  grateful  words 
As  in  his  heart 's  own  tone  he  throbbed  his  echo : 
"I  never  did  appreciate  you  fully, 
Douglas,  for  I  must  first  confess  myself 
To  you,  and  win  from  conscience  mine  own  shrift. 
A  greater  character  3'ou  now  have  shown 
Than  I  am,  greater  far  in  recognition 
Of  other's  worth,  suppressing  jealous}^; 
You  have  outprized  me  just  in  prizing  me, 
Which  hitherto  I  have  not  done  for  you; 
Forgetful  of  a  life-time's  rivalries, 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  H 

In  this  henceforth  your  rival  I  shall  be, 

And  ban  suspicion  from  its  secret  nook 

To  equal  you  in  magnanimity. 

Here  by  your  presence  I  am  thrilled  to  vow 

Devotion  to  our  sacred  cause  anew 

And  sink,  like  you,  myself  in  duty's  ocean 

To  cleanse  me  pure  of  blights  of  serving  self, 

Fountained  in  love's  oblivion  of  hate." 

When  he  had  spoken  thus  he  reached  his  hand, 

That  massive  hand  with  sinewy  fingers  clutching 

In  former  years  the  ax  or  iron  sledge 

Or  knotted  maul  to  cleave  the  oaken  bole. 

But  now  it  had  to  do  another  task : 

Unroll  a  scroll  of  paper  written  on. 

Which  act  he  prefaced  with  these  measured  words : 

"I  wish  to  read  for  your  approval  this 

My  call  for  troops  to  meet  revolt  now  loosed ; 

I  have  been  waiting  for  you  here — just  you — 

Though  my  whole  cabinet  agree  to  it, 

Without  assent  of  yours  I  would  not  dare 

Issue  it  to  the  people,  loyal  still. 

Of  whom  you  represent  by  vote  the  half 

Better  than  any  other  man  to-day; 

I  know  it  well  and  do  confess  it  here. 

Yours  is  more  true  to  you  than  mine  to  me ; 

Yours  is  your  own  more  than  your  party's  own; 

So  the  first  union  is  of  you  and  me, 


12      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

And  then  of  yours  and  mine  without  a  rift ; 
Thus  may  we  bring  about  the  final  union 
Of  these  constituent  States  now  sunderin;? ; 
Your  word  is  what  must  unify,  not  mine — 
You  rise  the  master  of  this  crisis  over  all." 

Lincoln  then  read  the  trumpet  call  to  arms, 

That  lofty  first  endowment  of  the  Nation 

With  the  authority  to  save  its  life 

"When  jeoparded  by  enemies  within, 

Invoking  the  whole  people  to  march  forth 

In  the  defence  of  that  which  makes  them  whole. 

His  eager  looks  he  lavished  on  his  guest 

And  closely  watched  the  latter 's  answering  eyes  : 

"That's  it — just  what  I  now  would  do  myself 

If  I  were  President,"  said  radiant  Douglas. 

' '  It  has  the  ring  of  my  heroic  model 

In  word  and  deed,  of  mine  own  Andrew  Jackson 

When  he  near  thirty  years  ago  was  forced 

To  grapple  with  this  same  South  Carolina, 

The  discontented  State  both  then  and  now, 

Fault-finder  general  of  Commonwealths, 

The  least  republican  in  constitution — 

Its  greatest  grievance  is,  methinks,  itself. 

Then  I  was  but  a  stripling,  scarce  eighteen. 

But  to  my  patriotic  bent  I  gave  myself, 

Was  ready  to  enlist,  started  to  drill; 

The  same  old  feeling  throbs  still  in  this  breast ; 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  13 

I  took  my  early  oath  to  the  Union  then 

Which  I  shall  keep — I  swear  it  now  to  you." 

Then  he  held  up  his  hand  to  take  the  vow 

Which  from  his  soul  irradiated  him 

With  all  the  glow  of  blessed  consecration. 

Lincoln  was  rapt  and  stood  in  wondering  glow 

At  this  new  greatness  of  the  man  before  him. 

He  felt  uplifted  to  new  self -surrender, 

Hearing  the  lofty  words  of  one  he  deemed 

His  whole  career's  most  dread  antagonist, 

And  touched  his  words  with  tender  chords  of  voice : 

"Be  it  now  mine  to  imitate  your  act 

Which  has  attuned  my  deepest  difference 

And  set  before  me  clearer  my  true  goal ; 

Diviner  than  myself  I  hail  you  now 

In  this  high  all-forgiving  deed  like  God's; 

But  I  shall  live  up  to  the  same  fulfilment 

Which  you  reveal  me  as  the  prize  of  life, 

Ridding  me  of  mean  envy's  secret  nagging. 

That  I  may  share  with  you  that  common  worth 

Which  fuses  both  our  souls  into  one  thought 

To  save  what  is  salvation's  very  self — 

Our  country's  institution,  best-born  of  time." 

Then  lesser  Douglas  rose  as  if  gigantic, 
His  stature  seemed  to  grow  just  there 
To  aught  of  a  colossal  magnitude 
As  he  uplifted  his  full  voice  sonorous, 


14      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

The  echo  of  his  heart's  swoll'n  overflow, 

And  raised  his  hand  upright,  palm  to  the  front, 

As  he  would  swear  before  the  magistrate 

Of  Heaven  his  everlasting  fealty: 

"My  President,  to  you  I  pledge  my  oath; 

Just  in  your  presence  here  I  would  enlist, 

Under  that  call  of  yours  and  take  my  place 

In  the  fore  rank  of  pressing  volunteers, 

Eeady  to  march,  the  first  enlisted  man ! ' ' 

He  strode  the  floor  alert  in  springy  pace, 

And  shook  his  lion's  mane  with  that  huge  roar 

Which  seemed  to  voice  a  million  of  his  followers, 

Then  leaped  elastic  as  he  shot  his  words: 

' '  Methinks  I  am  become  a  youth  again. 

My  memory  shifts  me  to  reality. 

Each  muscle  is  keyed  up  to  test  the  battle, 

I  cannot  longer  hold  me  in  delay; 

You,  my  Commander,  I  await  your  orders." 

Deliberately  Lincoln  dropped  his  front, 

As  if  he  would  turn  inward  to  himself 

For  a  brief  moment's  counsel  with  his  soul. 

Then  slowly  throbbed  his  mind  into  his  voice: 

''My  first  enlisted  man — and  greatest! 

Greater  than  I  am,  I  repeat  the  thought 

Just  now  you  stand  above  me  in  this  crisis : 

You  can  unite  the  North,  in  that  same  act 

You  can  divide  the  South  within  itself; 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  15 

Whilst  I — well  do  I  read  the  fateful  sign — 

Divide  the  North,  but  unify  the  South, 

Unless  you  bring  your  poll  of  myriads 

To  me,  and  tie  them  to  the  Union's  car. 

Your  votes  for  President  combine  with  mine 

Through  you — through  you  alone — I  know  it  well, 

Through  magic  of  your  personality. 

Your  deed  then  is  the  grandest  deed  of  all. 

The  presage  and  the  starting  point  of  victory ; 

The  primal  battle  of  this  war  you  have 

Already  won — I  hail  you  Conqueror." 

But  Douglas  turned  and  looked  off  at  himself 
O'erweighted  by  the  vast  acknowledgment, 
Until  he  could  pick  up  discourse  again : 
' '  Friend — now  I  shall  address  you  first  as  friend 
Though  I  have  never  thought  you  such  before — 
Your  words  have  spoken  out  my  deepest  hope 
"Which  you  have  raised  to  light  for  mine  own  vision 
From  where  it  has  lain  hid  to  me  myself 
Far  down  within  my  soul's  dark  underworld, 
The  buried  treasure  of  my  best  self's  being 
Lifted  by  you  that  I  possess  my  own, 
Methinks  for  the  first  time  in  all  my  life." 
The  speaker  stood  a  moment's  silent  spell 
As  gazing  into  depths  beyond  his  speech. 
When  he  looked  up,  out  of  his  heart  to  view 
A  little  bit  of  his  own  history: 


16      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOVSE—BOOK  I. 

"I  saw  this  struggle  coming  on  for  years 

As  Senator  in  yonder  Capitol ; 

From  my  high  vantage  perch  I  watched  its  growth, 

By  compromise  I  sought  to  stem  its  course 

"Whenever  it  would  threaten  dissolution ; 

I  threw  it  many  a  bone  to  pick  in  peace 

That  it  might  still  its  ever-gnawing  hunger 

Which  always  craved  for  rule  more  territory; 

I  humored  it,  but  ever  to  my  cost ; 

In  lesser  things  I  yielded  oft  my  will 

Quite  to  the  point  where  duty  dreaks  her  staff. 

Hoping  to  save  the  greater  and  the  greatest, 

This  Union  of  the  States,  without  the  blood, 

The  fratricidal  penalty  now  doomed. 

All,  all  in  vain ;'  my  work  of  compromise 

Which  made  me  try  to  temporise  with  God, 

Has  been  rejected  with  a  scowled  disdain 

By  those  to  whom  I  sacrificed  myself 

For  all  my  years  up  to  the  present  time. 

But  now  I  see  my  higher  immolation. 

And  feel  me  portioned  with  your  dower  divine, 

The  love  which  you  impart  e'en  to  your  foes." 

Tall  sympathetic  Lincoln  looked  his  heart 

Which  he  pulsed  forth  in  tremulous  tones  of  voice 

As  he  on  his  part  lipped  confession  too : 

"How  clearly  now  I  see  all  that  you  did, 

And  grasp  the  motive  of  your  great  career 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  17 

Where  it  beneath  all  difference  of  party 
Conjoins  with  mine  in  love  of  our  one  country ! 
With  that  deep  spirit  of  your  life  to-day 
I  would  commune  and  seek  its  present  help, 
Which  is  the  time 's  last  need,  and  mine,  mine  too. 
You  I  have  had  in  mind  for  weeks,  for  months. 
While  I  was  helpless  held  at  home  in  Springfield, 
And  watched  in  impotence  the  wrecking  storm. 
I  would  repeat  to  you  my  surest  thought : 
Yours  is  the  will  on  which  this  moment  hinges, 
Turning  to  triumph  or  defeat  just  now: 
Yours  the  initiative  I  say,  not  mine, 
Although  I  voice  the  call,  you  give  the  sign 
Which  I  have  been  beseeching  of  the  Powers. 
This  is  my  prayer  to  the  timely  man : 
'  0  make  us  whole  and  cleave  the  foe  in  twain ! ' 
So  you  appear  to  step  from  out  the  air 
In  ansM^er  to  my  fervent  supplication, 
As  when  a  spirit  drops  down  from  above 
In  blest  fulfilment  of  some  high  decree, 
The  presage  of  our  victory  at  last; 
The  only  rainbow  promise  I  have  seen 
Is  yours  since  I  have  come  to  take  my  seat 
In  this  uneasy  Presidential  chair. ' ' 

Such  was  the  dark  ray  which  escaped  the  guard 
Of  Lincoln's  melancholy  inner  world; 
But  it  he  sought  to  overtake  with  gleams 


18      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

Of  recognition  bright  for  his  high  guest, 
Culling  from  memory  some  pleasant  flowers 
To  counteract  the  gloom  of  what  he  said: 
"Let  me  repeat:  that  act  of  courtesy, 
I  never  have  acknowledged  it,  alas ! 
The  fairest  gem  of  my  inauguration. 
Bright  it  is  treasured  in  my  gratitude ; 
When  I,  distraught  at  the  great  throng  of  faces 
And  the  far  greater  pressure  of  the  time, 
Crushed  with  a  Nation's  vast  expectancy, 
I  knew  not  even  where  to  put  my  hat; 
Then  you  stepped  up  and  held  it  in  your  hand, 
With  radiance  so  gracious  from  your  eyes, 
With  whispered  words  of  comfort  from  your  lips. 
That  I  at  once  took  heart  and  pulsed  it  forth 
Into  my  tongue  that  all  the  audience  fused — 
Your  followers  and  mine  became  then  one 
More  through  your  look  and  act  than  what  I  said. 
Hear  me!  alone  I  never  could  have  done  it 
Douglas,  a  stone  rolls  from  my  weighted  back . 
For  I  have  failed  to  mete  you  recognition ; 
I  say  you  this  confession  to  your  face. ' ' 

Tall  Lincoln  rose  to  his  full  stretch  of  stature. 
The  little  stoop  which  always  curved  his  shoulder 
Seemed    then    to    straighten    out    and    make    him 

mighty, 
While  Douglas  upward  bent  his  gleaming  eyes ; 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  I9 

A  stride,  almost  a  military  strut 

He  took  across  the  floor  against  some  foe 

Invisible,  as  he  discharged  his  words : 

"My  chieftain  now,  Lincoln,  greatest  to  be 

Of  all  our  Presidents  lined  down  the  future, 

Commander  of  the  Nation  give  me  your  orders ! ' ' 

More  tenderly  then  Lincoln  tuned  his  voice 
Quite  breathed  to  whisper  confidential: 
"Again  you  have  forerun  my  dearest  wish 
AVhich  at  your  bidding  I  unbosom  you. 
Haste  to  our  common  home,  spacious  North- West, 
Which  is  the  foremost  child  and  aye  free-born 
Of  this  maternal  Union ;  rouse  its  people 
By  your  compelling  might  of  eloquence. 
And  to  the  cry  of  their  endangered  mother 
Rally  them  in  one  mighty  folk-soul's  swell, 
Kindle  them  to  a  rolling  fiery  mass 
Of  live  volcanic  valor,  thence  to  swoop  down 
The  stream-bed  of  the  Mississippi's  flood. 
Freeing  the  Nation's  future  valley-home 
Far  to  the  tepid  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Then  hitherward  shall  turn  that  human  tide 
Eesistless  of  our  patriot's  soldiery, 
Perchance  around  e'en  to  this  Capital 
Through  all  the  realm  of  mad  rebellion 
'Twill  have  to  march  before  its  work  is  done, 
Restoring  this  as  center  of  the  Nation. 


20      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

To  you  in  privacy  I  dare  divulge 
What  I  must  keep  unsaid  thougli  oft  it  knocks, 
The  hid  presentiment  of  days  to  come : 
That  valley  is  the  way  to  our  salvation." 

More  boldly  then  with  words  broke  Douglas  in, 
As  he  unlocked  a  secret  chamber  of  his  soul : 
"You  hit  my  purpose  right  upon  the  head- 
Hear  too  from  me  a  note  of  prophecy, 
Though  mine  be  not  the  gift  oracular : 
The  Mississippi  is  the  marching  road 
For  men  to  do  the  Nation 's  winning  deed : 
Those  men  of  ours — I  deem  I  know  them  well," 

Lincoln's  sunk  eye  shot  lightening  of  surprise: 

' '  Did  you  think  too  of  that  which  I  must  hide  ? 

I  never  tongue  the  thought  here  in  the  East 

Where  is  the  strain  of  local  vanity 

Which  I  must  not  offend  by  noting  it, 

But  hold  myself  impartial  to  each  part. 

Still  I  may  whisper  you  my  last  night 's  dream 

That  we  can  never  reach  revolted  Charleston, 

Unless  we  follow  our  great  river's  lead 

Even  in  all  it  tortuosities 

Which  coil  and  roar  through  so  much  space  and 

time, 
But  never  fail  at  last  to  reach  the  goal." 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  21 

Douglas  let  fall  his  chin  upon  his  breast 

And  slowly  spoke  with  meditation's  look: 

"Yes,  we  are  thinking  now  the  self -same  thought, 

"We  both  are  even  dreaming  the  one  dxeam, 

And  both  our  hearts  pulse  with  one  stroke  together. 

Hence  first  I  shall  fly  to  our  common  State 

Of  Illinois,  and  call  to  arms  her  sons, 

Unite  them  all,  both  parties,  j^ours  and  mine, 

In  this  great  enterprise — I  must  be  off. ' ' 

"The  only  man  who  can  do  that — 'tis  you," 

Spake  Lincoln  with  an  emphasis  of  heart, 

' '  And  yours  I  deem  the  first  great  deed  of  war, 

The  most  important  to  be  done  just  now — 

Unite  the  North,  divide  the  South — that's  yours — 

Tours  for  all  future  time  of  history ;  ■ 

Methinks  I  see  the  world  turn  on  your  act. 

God  speed  you  well,  my  first  enlisted  man 

Of  thousands  or  of  millions,  and  the  greatest. ' ' 

The  orator  turned  soldier  wheels  about 
And  marches  pensive  quite  unto  the  door; 
But  ere  he  trod  the  sill,  he  faced  again 
Lincoln,  who  closely  followed  in  his  steps, 
Forefeeling  somewhat  still  unsaid  by  both 
"Wliich  throbbed  for  utterance  within  each  soul. 
They  felt  the  need  in  mutual  mystery 
To  tell  new  revelations  of  themselves. 
The  bodeful  secrets  of  their  underworld 


22      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

"Wliicli  darkly  lurked  within  their  present  deeds. 
The  military  Douglas  calmed  his  speech 
From  Avar  into  low  brooding  tones  of  care : 
"Let  Death  now  strike  me  down — this  shall  I  do; 
For  I  would  rather  die  at  such  conjuncture 
When  I  have  reached  the  oneness  of  myself, 
And  feel  me  vanish  in  my  country's  life, 
Yielding  my  singleness  unto  the  All. 
In  this  forespoken  act  of  mine  there  lurks 
For  me  a  shadowy  sense  of  doomful  Fate 
"Which  haunts  my  soul  with  dark  presentiment. 
Sad  was  I  when  I  hither  came — I  leave 
Instilled  with  a  new  joy  of  harmony. 
As  if  I  touched  the  center  of  my  being, 
And  there  discovered  first  my  own  true  Self 
Enshrined  within  my  country's  largest  aspiration. 
I  feel  nerved  up  to  strive  man's  topmost  reach; 
Let  Fate  me  slay,  I  shall  coerce  it  still, 
The  master  of  it  through  its  own  success. 
Stamping  my  impress  on  the  age's  loftiest  deed 
Just  in  my  personal  evanishment. " 

Thus  Douglas  reveried  against  his  wont 

And  strangely  rhapsodized  in  prophecy ; 

He  thrilled  a  strand  far  down  in  Lincoln's  soul, 

Whereof  vibrations  rose  into  his  words : 

' '  Therein  again  you  do  prefigure  me 

And  strike  concordant  notes  with  mine  own  doom; 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  23 

I  too  feel  Destiny  twang  my  heart-strings  oft, 
Which  now  your  words  attune  as  if  a  harp 
Trills  in  response  to  wafture  of  your  breath. 
All  through  the  gamut  of  our  souls  we  seem 
Communing  from  the  sources  nethermost 
Which  upward  well  to  view  we  wot  not  whence. 
How  unexpected  is  all  this  in  you! 
Long  have  I  known  you,  heard  you  often  talk, 
I  never  thought  you  had  a  vision,  trance, 
Or  ecstacy,  but  kept  to  facts  of  sense. 
It  is  the  time 's  upheaval  in  us  both, 
The  outbreak  of  a  world  which  hitherto 
Unconscious  lay  far  down  in  every  soul. 
But  now  sends  forth  new  sudden  rivulets. 
From  its  mysterious  depths  of  first  creation; 
An  oversoul  is  working  in  us  too. 
As  well  as  in  the  people's  mighty  tides 
Responsive  to  a  Presence  universal. ' ' 

Thus  told  they  of  their  secret  selves  in  turn. 
And  bared  their  hidden  lives  in  mutual  strain. 
When  both  hushed  to  a  moment's  speechlessness. 
Soon  Douglas  damped  his  voice  to  a  whispering 

dream, 
And  lisped  out  of  the  future  this  weird  presage : 
"Let  me  confess  to  what  I  here  forefeel — 
The  first  to  fall  I  shall  be  in  this  battle 
To  which  I  go  as  soldier  now  in  arms. 
Obeying  your  command  and  mine,  and  God's. 


24      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

Never  before  have  I  had  premouitions, 

I  always  laughed  at  those  who  had — at  you 

Dropping  a  Avord  in  your  sepulchral  mood; 

But  now  there  dogs  me  everywhere  I  walk 

A  bodement  strange  of  brief  mortality, 

An  airy  summons  to  the  Judgment  last 

To  which  each  step  I  take  is  but  approach. ' ' 

There  Douglas  stopped,  held  in  reflection  mute 

As  if  he  hesitated  to  speak  out 

Some  word  which  would  not  let  itself  be  hid, 

But  stammered  with  a  jog  across  his  lips: 

"Lincoln,  not  I  alone  am  brought  to  feel 

The  dread  pursuit  of  doomful  intimations, 

But  my  own  household  too,  the  innocents. 

Are  whelmed  into  participation  strange : 

My  women  folk  are  haunted  by  this  mood 

Of  boding  prescience  quite  akin  to  mine 

And  try  to  hold  me  back  from  daring  it. 

But  I  shall  go,  of  augury  defiant 

To  outface  Fate,  turning  its  mortal  blows 

Back  on  itself,  compelling  it  through  death." 

The  ominous  word  smote  Lincoln  to  a  quake 
Which  ran  a  surge  of  momentary  shocks 
Along  each  member  of  his  body 's  frame ; 
Again  the  common  underlying  chord 
Reverberated  sympathy  in  both 
As  Lincoln's  heart-swells  palpitated  up 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  25 

Into  his  speech  and  a  small  tear  in  tune 

Coursed  tumbling  down  his  sallow  channeled  cheeks : 

' '  Another  consonance  !  what  means  it  all ! 

Are  we  intoxicated  from  that  cup 

Of  rare  divine  elixir  which  the  Gods 

Once  drank  according  to  the  ancient  fable? 

A  draught  in  common  somewhence  we  are  drawing, 

For  listen  to  the  match  of  your  experience 

Which  seems  to  rise  as  counterpart  to  mine : 

Last  night  as  I  lay  waking  in  my  thought 

I  heard  my  helpmate  shriek  in  restless  sleep 

Almost  the  words  of  Caesar's  wife,  Calpurnia; 

She  shouted  agonies  in  hideous  dream : 

Help,  murder!  Ho,  they  slay  the  President." 

Lincoln  staggered  at  the  piercing  blow 

Of  his  own  voice  sharp-pointed  to  a  scream ; 

He  grasped  the  arm  of  Douglas  for  support 

As  if  beneath  his  own  self 's  imaged  thrust 

He  might  be  falling  in  his  dying  blood ; 

'Twas  only  for  a  moment's  passing  flash, 

When  he  stood  up  erecter  than  before. 

But  both  were  silenced  by  the  doomf  ul  word, 

Each  felt  the  palsied  touch  upon  his  tongue. 

But  each  was  listening  a  voice  within. 

Their  spirits  choired  together  Heaven's  music, 

Each  tuned  the  other's  soul  above  itself 

Unto  the  final  harmony  of  man 

Which  tensed  the  will  to  its  divine  resolve : 


26      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

' '  Now  let  me  do  aud  let  me  die — I  dare  not  stay — 
No  longer  victim  blanched  of  Destiny 
I  crouch  my  weary  days,  but  as  her  master 
I  throne  myself  just  by  my  dying  deed." 

They  parted,  heroes  under  doom  of  death 
That  they  might  give  unto  the  Nation  life, 
The  first  and  last  of  mighty  sacrifices; 
Immortal  made  through  their  mortality, 
By  ministry  they  won  Fate's  mastery. 

Douglas  went  sliding  muffled  through  the  throng. 
Unrecognized,  and  dodging  every  lamp 
Lest  he  be  stopped  by  the  salute  of  friends. 
Or  plied  with  questions  of  the  eager  crowd. 
Soon  he  is  speeding  to  his  own  North-West 
"Whose  folk  he  thrills  with  love  for  the  Union's  life 
In  mighty  eloquence  of  word  and  deed 
As  he  upholds  the  rule  of  that  majority 
"Which  had  elected  not  himself  but  LincoLo. 
"Who  long  had  been  his  chief  antagonist. 
Thus  to  his  greatest  triumph  his  defeat 
He  turns  through  noble  magnanimity. 
Transforming  failure  to  highest  heroship, 
Outshining  all  success  by  character 
"Whose  prize  the  folk  acclaimed  without  dissent. 
So  he  was  crowned  the  greater  conquerer. 
Touching  the  height  of  life's  long  climb  of  deeds. 
And  yet  his  heart  was  breaking  in  these  days 


LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS.  27 

Of  victory  supreme ;  his  country 's  rift 
Had  rent  his  life  in  twain  e'en  as  he  spoke, 
And  gave  a  pathos  to  his  parting  voice, 
The  patriot's  testament  unto  his  people, 
Y/hich  they  engrossed  on  Memory  forever. 

He  counseled  war,  which  then  was  slaying  him, 

With  every  word  he  felt  the  inner  cut, 

He  flashed  his  tongue  a  sword  against  disunion, 

The  counterstroke  fell  hot  upon  his  heart. 

And  so  time  turned  his  thrust  back  to  himself, 

The  mightier  his  deed,  the  mightier  his  pain ; 

The  top  of  greatness  was  fatality. 

On  work  supreme  was  laid  the  cost  supreme. 

The  highest  good  has  too  the  penalty. 

For  not  a  fortnight  passed  ere  lapsed  his  voice ; 

He  spoke  his  last  address  unto  the  folk, 

And  capped  the  very  summit  of  his  days 

Standing  a  moment  in  the  Eternal's  sheen 

Upon  the  mount  of  God  transfigured, 

Then  drooped  to  bed  with  death  upon  his  brow. 

The  Nation  witnessing  his  tragedy 

Shuddered  at  view  of  its  own  mighty  clash 

In  him  as  its  first  representative. 

Beyond  he  passed  before  the  people's  eye, 

A  foretold  prototype  it  felt  in  him 

Of  what  was  just  beginning  in  itself 

Eepictured  on  the  many  million  hearts. 

The  war  two-sided  in  each  living  soul. 


28      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 


PRELUDE. 

So  Lincoln  had  his  interview  supreme 
With  Douglas  at  the  turning  of  the  time. 
The  age's  constitutive  parts  they  seemed, 
Before  divided,  now  one  will  they  formed, 
Presaging  final  oneness  of  their  country. 
Alone  they  talked,  unwitnessed  in  their  speech; 
No  history  records  their  confidences, 
No  written  document,  no  memory — 
And  yet  their  lips  preluded  the  new  hope 
Which  spurred  the  folk  to  nationality ; 
Natheless  their  tale  will  not  be  lost  to  time. 
But  hear !  another  voice  has  tuned  the  call 
To  mint  to  melody  the  golden  mine — 
The  riches  of  their  speech  coercing  Fate 
To  triumph  of  new  love  o'er  ancient  strife 
In  mutual  fuse  of  personality. 
That  voice  recording  was  once  called  the  Muse 
Who  to  old  Homer  breathed  the  secrets  high 
Of  what  the  Gods  above  had  said  and  done — 
The  last  determiners  of  all  events 
Which  sweep  along  the  aeons  to  their  goal. 
Bearing  the  mortal  in  their  hidden  stream. 
But  now  that  Muse  antique  shows  use  of  years, 
And  can  no  longer  pipe  her  youthful  note. 
And  what  she  says  has  lost  its  primal  creed ; 


PRELUDE.  29 

Her  very  self  is  now  unfaithed  of  men. 

But  still  that  upper  realm  divine  exists 

And  weaves  into  all  human  destinies 

In  which  it  will  not  let  itself  be  missed, 

Or  stay  unvoiced  of  noble  poesy. 

It  rules — more  mightily  than  ever  rules — 

With  impress  on  the  doer's  highest  deed, 

Though  tattered  be  its  once  supernal  shapes, 

And  have  to  be  re-clothed  and  e'en  re-shaped 

For  faith  and  for  imagination  too. 

That  they  may  be  once  more  presentable. 

And  so  this  Prelude  of  our  Lincoln's  sunrise 
To  be  now  built  of  glints  foreplays  this  note ; 
The  true  portrayal  of  the  world  above 
And  of  the  Order  ruling  thence  the  deed 
Becomes  anew  the  test  supreme  of  writ 
]\rost  worth  to  be  of  man  remembered. 
That  world  must  be  re-built  to  measured  speech 
And  shown  the  spirit 's  deepest  living  faith 
In  forms  forged  fresh  of  elemental  soul 
Amid  the  epoch's  dread  emergencies — 
Not  sent  down  to  the  hero  from  above 
As  feigned  by  Chian  bard  long  long  ago, 
And  in  our  brain  reverberating  still 
With  golden  echoes  from  a  thousand  strains, 
Through  avenues  of  singing  centuries 
Invoking  to  their  song  the  Gods  of  Greece. 


y 


30      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  I. 

The  Gods  must  be  re-shaped  for  the  new  aeon 

From  the  creation's  first  material 

By  the  great  man  of  time  who  needs  them  most, 

And  when  he  needs  them  most  at  pinch  of  Fate, 

Framing  them  from  himself  and  from  the  All, 

Fusing  eternity's  two  miracles 

Into  responses  for  the  listening  folk. 

Lincoln  will  have  his  higher  Presences 
Which  come  to  him,  yet  are  his  own  as  well, 
Re-made  by  him  and  still  already  made; 
So  he  within  will  live  an  overlife 
Above  the  clashing  duties  of  the  day, 
Communing  with  existences  beyond, 
"Which  also  must  appear  in  the  account, 
Revealed  as  the  supernal  potencies, 
Unfolding  in  him  with  his  noblest  works. 


^tj 


And  Love  will  flit  to  him  just  at  the  need 

In  semblance  of  a  vanished  shape  he  knew, 

Yet  rising  from  the  mortal  one  to  all, 

Imparting  to  his  soul  its  sacred  self 

If  for  a  moment  he  may  lapse  to  hate. 

Lifting  him  from  the  slough  of  the  mad  time. 

And  so  it  stranged  him  much  when  he  heard  Douglas 

Acknowledging  a  fealty  of  Love 

Unto  himself,  transformed  from  enmity. 

' '  That  is  the  top  of  personality 


PRELUDE.  31 

To  change  the  heart  from  foe  to  friend,"  cried  he 

"Now  I  shall  live  for  Love's  own  deepest  trial, 

Re-tested  every  day  by  fire  of  battle ; 

I  may  think  better  of  myself  for  that. ' ' 

So  Lincoln  thrilled  in  blessed  recognition 

That  he  had  touched  far  down  his  rival 's  Love ; 

Such  he  conceived  his  nature 's  deepest  worth. 

And  tuned  a  moment's  joy,  as  to  himself 

He  tingled  thoughts  of  self -acknowledgment. 

He  rose  and  stirred  about  as  inly  driven 

To  utter  to  himself,  now  left  alone, 

This  interview's  upbursting  memories. 

Which  he  would  letter  on  his  living  heart. 


iQOll  Sttoitb. 


Lincoln  with  Himself, 

"Gone  to  his  highest  deed  and  doom  in  one! 
To  point  the  pinnacle  of  life  with  death ! 
So  Douglas  now  sets  out  for  his  last  work 
With  whose  fulfillment  strikes  his  hour  of  Fate : 
When  he  has  done  his  best,  that  is  his  end. 
My  lot  is  also  sucli,  whene  'er  it  falls ; 
I  feel  it  troubling  in  each  drop  of  blood, 
As  long  as  sour  misfortune  pours  her  frowns 
Upon  my  days,  I  shall  be  living  still ; 
While  I  shall  toil  at  my  life's  task  and  fail, 
Death  cannot  smite  me  at  my  sorest  tug, 
Although  I  pray  him  to  deliver  me. 
I  have  to  live  on  ever  in  defeat, 
Of  my  existence  failure  is  the  food. 

(32) 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  33 

I  know  prosperity  is  just  what  fates  me ; 
Like  Douglas  I  now  see  myself  in  this: 
My  moment's  moment  is  to  be  my  last." 

So  Lincoln's  melancholy  bubbled  up 

From  farthest-welling  fountains  of  his  soul, 

As  he  looked  out  into  the  gloaming  dusk 

Through  which  the  dimming  form  of  Douglas  fleeted 

Until  it  had  become  a  memory 

Suggestive  of  their  common  destiny. 

Whereat  he  turned  again  to  his  self 's  talk : 

"He  knows  he  marches  to  his  triumph's  top 

From  which  he  plunges  to  the  dark  abyss, 

Precipitated  by  the  viewless  Powers! 

So  he — so  I  am  marching  too,  methinks. 

But  strange — how  strange  it  is  with  me  and  Douglas ! 

Our  lives  somehow  will  never  keep  apart. 

But  interwind,  attract,  and  then  repel, 

And  then  again  attract  at  last  as  now, 

Still  circling  in  the  distance  round  each  other ! 

Two  dozen  years  and  more  have  rolled  away 

Since  I  began  to  spy  his  character ; 

And  still  I  have  not  fathomed  it  as  yet, 

I  found  him  standing  at  my  entrance  first 

In  public  life  when  I  was  chosen  one 

Of  old  Vandalia's  callow  legislators. 

"We  often  met  and  simply  passed  salute. 

Each  of  us  feeling  then  some  rivalry 


34     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  II. 

Unconscious,  yet  at  work  withini  our  souls, 

Creative  germ  of  our  careers  to  be. 

I  felt  it  when  I  boldly  challenged  him 

To  swim  with  me  across  Kaskaskia's  flood, 

Laying  a  trifling  wager  which  I  won. 

In  social  gatherings  at  Springfield  too, 

"We  spake  our  mutual  distant  compliments 

Yet  with  a  secret  emulation  felt 

Far  down  in  Nature's  primal  portion. 

"We  wooed  the  same  career,  public  and  private, 

Aye,  the  same  heart  in  love  we  wooed  of  woman ; 

I  followed  close  his  track  as  Senator, 

Since  his  successor  I  had  hoped  to  be, 

And  clap  the  laurel  from  his  brow  to  mine. 

But  he  outstripped  me  far  and  rapidly 

So  that  I  quit  the  contest  with  his  fame 

Quit  Congress  where  he  shone  the  rising  star. 

And  lapsed  into  my  hope's  dark  subsidence, 

Doomed  to  long  years  of  purgatorial  trial. 

But  resurrection  came  in  that  debate 

Before  the  yeomanry  of  Illinois 

"When  I  and  Douglas  clinched  in  warring  words 

Not  three  years  since — it  was  a  battle  drawn — 

I  won  the  people,  he  the  office  won. 

So  I  have  watched  him  under  all  conditions. 
And  by  encounter  personal  him  tested, 
Until  I  weened  I  had  his  outline  charactered. 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  35 

But  in  his  deepest  self  I  knew  him  not, 

Never  suspected  what  he  showed  to-night, 

That  hidden  underlife  of  pregnant  dreams. 

With  dim  foreshadowings  of  haps  to  come. 

"What  possibilities  lurk  in  that  world 

Which  men  call  mind  with  easy  thoughtlessness ! 

What  untold  layers  in  the  soul  of  man ! 

All  genesis  lies  stratified  in  me — 

Deposit  of  the  whole  creation's  growth, 

Heirdom  of  all  the  universe's  Time, 

Be  it  the  past,  or  be  it  yet  to  be ! 

I  cannot  ban  my  fresh  surprise  at  Douglas 

Bursting  to  sunlight  like  a  cosmos  come ! 

In  him  I  saw  the  crafty  politician, 

I  swayed  in  doubt  of  his  last  fealty ; 

I  watched  him  breach  in  twain  his  party, 

Then  a  like  inroad  turn  against  my  side. 

I  questioned  if  he  might  not  breach  as  well 

This  Union  of  the  States,  the  world's  best  hope. 

Whose  burden  is  now  fallen  me  to  save. 

But  no !  there  stood  he  firm  and  whole  with  me — 

And  undivided  his  allegiance 

In  diamond  flawlessness  of  loyalty. 

That  is  the  unit  of  his  character 

Which  unifies  himself  beneath  all  scission. 

And  unifies  myself  to-day  with  him. 

Yea  unifies  the  folk  with  both  of  us 


36     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  II. 

In  one  vast  surge  of  patriotic  fervor, 

And  will  at  last  re-seal  this  broken  Union, 

Whose  oneness  I  now  see  foretold  in  Douglas. 

No  doubt  he  wished  to  be  the  President 

In  every  throb  of  heart  and  cast  of  brain ; 

Each  year  the  darling  passion  would  blaze  out, 

Yet  life  but  fed  him  with  defeated  hope. 

I  won  the  prize  of  him  so  coveted, 

And  still  he  comes  to  offer  me  his  service ; 

Could  I  have  done  as  nobly  too  by  him — 

Forgotten  all  these  years  of  rivalry. 

And  left  unheeded  all  my  party  hate, 

Unfelt  the  venomed  sting  of  jealousy  ? 

I  think  me  thus:  were  he  now  in  my  place. 

Could  I  have  come  and  tendered  him  my  help, 

Yea  more,  my  life,  my  very  destiny? 

I  shiver  at  my  question  asked  myself ! 

I  dare  not  say  I  would  have  equaled  him 

In  his  heroic  magnanimity ; 

I  fear  a  weakness  which  I  oft  have  felt, 

And  yet  his  was  the  crowning  deed  to  do, 

And  his  the  peak  outtopping  Presidency. 

I  now  shall  hold  it  up  as  my  ideal. 

The  star  of  worth  by  me  to  be  aspired ; 

Him  I  shall  rival  at  his  highest  point 

Where  excellence  hath  pinnacled  his  deed — 

Unite  the  Union's  friends,  divide  its  foes, 

Thus  turn  secession  on  itself  to  rend. 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  37 

My  anchor  chief  I  feel  that  act  of  Douglas, 
I  shall  dare  issue  now  the  Proclamation, 
And  challenge  the  arbitrament  of  blood; 
For  he  has  bonded  with  me  the  Union's  friends, 
Eeviving  all  its  grand  expectancy. 

But  mark  again  the  fatal  act  supreme 
Of  his,  for  it  he  deems  his  tragedy ; 
His  greatest  day  is  just  his  day  of  doom. 
The  garland  of  his  noblest  victory 
Is  wreathed  in  glory  by  grim  destiny, 
Only  that  it  be  laid  upon  his  grave. 

Oh  ghastly  irony  of  mortal  Fame ! 
Therein  his  lot,  I  read,  attunes  with  mine : 
The  day  I  dare  once  call  my  happiest 
Will  be  my  last — I  now  can  hear  its  knell — 
And  I,  the  man  of  peace,  must  stay  in  war ; 
"When  ends  this  clash  of  arms  just  now  begun 
I  end,  my  peace  is  not  of  life  but  death ; 
The  joyful  bells  which  peal  the  concord  new 
Of  the  saved  People  toll  me  to  my  rest 
Eternal,  the  Union  living  sees  my  corpse, 
The  Nation 's  gash  of  Fate  turns  back  on  me. 
When  I  have  closed  secession's  last  rift 
And  made  my  People  whole  in  a  new  birth. 
That  is  the  moment  on  the  horologue 
Of  time  which  ticks  mine  own  evanishment. 


38     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  II. 

The  chasm  of  existence  then  will  ope 

And  gape  for  me,  with  sudden  monstrous  gorge 

And  in  one  swallow  I  shall  disappear. 

Bu,t  why  this  brooding  on  my  mortal  lot ! 

Not  yet  it  is,  that  day  is  not  yet  here, 

I  still  must  gloom  and  suffer  in  defeat 

Till  my  defeater,  life,  is  too  defeated : 

Take  heart  from  this,  oh  melancholy  thought ! 

As  long  as  I  can  be  unhappy  here, 

I  shall  not  perish  in  my  misery. 

But  toil  at  sorrow's  task  till  Fortune  smiles 

One  happy  day  which  is  my  judgment  day. 

Yet  is  the  Nation's  day  of  prime  deliverance. 

The  great  releaser  from  the  labor-pains 

Sprung  of  the  bearing  of  a  new-born  world. ' ' 

Thus  Lincoln  in  the  White-House  felt  himself 
To  be  prophetic  of  his  destiny 
Foreshadowed  by  that  deep  co-incidence 
Which  bound  his  lot  at  last  in  one  with  Douglas,  ■ 
Whose  image  always  would  leap  up  within  him 
And  make  him  throb  his  wonderment  to  words : 
' '  0  Douglas !  I  cannot  keep  thee  out  of  mind. 
So  coupled  are  we  in  what  lies  beneath 
The  outer  surface  of  us  opposites ! 
More  intimate  to  me  than  all  things  else 
Is  now  this  fact  of  him  first  come  to  light : 
He  too  is  owner  of  a  throbbing  underworld 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  39 

Replete  with  bodements  and  monitions  dim, 

Aye  peopled  with  quick  images  of  soul. 

He  too  knows  visions,  dreams,  and  prophecies, 

Can  even  hear  a  spirit's  airy  talk 

In  moments  of  his  vision's  ecstasy. 

Oft  have  I  heard  him  scoff  at  all  such  toys, 

Proclaim  to  me  his  valiant  skepticism, 

"Which  puts  to  death  all  spectral  shapes  of  fogland. 

The  hauntings  of  aged  superstition 's  reign. 

He  said  that  I  could  have  monopoly 

Of  all  that  nether  life  in  which  he  knew 

I  had  a  share,  inheritance  of  old. 

I  deemed  him  but  intelligent  of  prose. 

Not  of  the  mold  of  winged  fantasy, 

Reft  of  communion  with  supernal  powers, 

Spread  flat  on  level  practicality. 

How  keen  his  mind  would  see  and  work  his  means. 

Never  afraid  to  use  them  for  his  end. 

And  sly  in  labyrinthine  circumvention 

Without  the  pang  of  scrupulosity ! 

So  held  I  all  of  him  till  up  to  now. 

His  speeches  have  no  storied  wealth  of  fable, 

And  little  anecdote  or  humorous  flash. 

No  rapturous  vision  of  the  upper  world 

Set  to  the  music  of  eternity, 

Whence  Gods  look  down  control  of  mortal  men. 

And  bid  us  share  with  them  the  reign  divine. 


40     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  II. 

But  facts  were  all  his  eloquence,  bald  facts, 
Llarshaled  in  force,  oft  hot  with  rhetoric, 
Shunning  imagination's  golden  flight, 
Unpanoplied  with  gleaming  metaphors. 
Without  the  rhythmic  cadence  of  the  word. 

But  now  behold  the  man 's  new  revelation 

He  joins  me  in  my  deepest  loyalty — 

Not  only  that,  but  this  which  is  more  strange. 

He  dares  descend  down  into  Nature 's  night-shade, 

Companioned  with  me  in  that  ghostly  realm 

Where  lurk  dark  Fate  and  all  the  Powers  unseen, 

Directive  agencies  of  human  souls 

For  guidance,  warning,  and  for  punishment. 

There  in  that  dreamt  domain  of  unlit  life 

Where  dwells  the  Self  unsunned  of  consciousness. 

Where  stalk  in  stealth  our  oldest  energies 

Or  lift  to  life  in  hoary  ancestry. 

We  found  each  other,  felt  each  other  out, 

At  those  last  depths  of  our  humanity. 

We  saw  ourselves  beneath  all  difference, 
And  recognized  our  common  destiny. 
As  there  we  faced  each  other,  soul  to  soul. 
And  held  communion  deeper  than  our  speech ; 
Yet  not  alone  we  tokened  eye  to  eye, 
Between  us  stood  the  upper  President. 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  41 

The  pivot  ultimate  of  our  careers 
Moving  from  sides  of  life  quite  opposite 
Unto  the  center  of  our  universe 
I  see — I  realize  for  the  first  time, 
Confessing  to  my  sin  against  his  worth. 
Now  I  shall  watch  his  lot  until  his  close, 
For  it  will  mirror  mine,  e  'en  if  drawn  out 
Into  the  testing  years  which  are  to  come, 
Letting  me  glimpse  myself  ahead  of  time 
To  hint  me  of  my  fate  far  in  advance. 

When  we  antagonized  three  years  agone. 

And  met  in  hot  debate  before  the  folk, 

I  only  thought  him  as  my  antitype 

Wlio  never  could  be  twinned  in  soul  with  me. 

And  yet  he  gives  me  credit  for  this  concord 

Which  has,  by  me  unthought,  sprung  out  the  dark ; 

He  says  I  touched  it  secretly  within  him 

When  I  would  speak  and  stir  the  people 's  sense 

Of  a  community  of  man  with  man, 

For  he  in  all  the  folk  felt  the  response. 

Still  that  dumb  feeling  must  have  first  been  his, 

And  ready  to  be  roused  from  dormancy 

When  the  right  moment  came  with  the  right  word — 

That  is  the  soul's  own  precious  mystery. 

Which  it  holds  hid  within  its  brooding  seas. 


42     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  II. 

What  is  that  far-down  human  unity 

From  which  upbursts  this  severality  of  ours, 

This  separation  of  us  into  selves, 

As  if  we  sprang  of  one  great  over-man 

From  whose  vast  Self  we  snatched  our  own  self's 

spark — 
In  whom  we  all  can  be  again  united — 
"Who  fuses  keenest  contrarieties. 
Such  as  were  Douglas  and  myself  before, 
And  with  us  melts  the  people  each  and  all 
Aglow  in  one  vast  common  fire  of  soul, 
So  that  we  are  again  one  individual  ? 
But  yesterday  the  world  seemed  all  distract, 
The  land,  the  time  was  breaking  into  pieces, 
The  crack  of  chaos,  coming  quickly,  shot 
Through  the  whole  universe  of  God  and  man. 
But  now  from  Douglas  springs  a  harmony 
Which  tunes  me  to  a  higher  unity 
And  inwardly  accords  me  to  myself. 

Fain  would  I  now  commune  with  Presences 
Who  at  my  better  moments  come  to  me 
Impressing  on  my  mind  their  messages 
Which  voiceless  tell  me  the  decrees  above. 
And  make  my  house  their  shrine  of  weal  and  woe. 
They  form  for  me  the  other  Cabinet 
Which  I  found  here  installed  already. 
And  busied  of  themselves  with  my  affairs. 


LINCOLN  WITH  HIMSELF.  43 

Nameless  and  of  me  unsolicited, 
The  overworld's  advisers  of  my  office. 

But  Douglas !  I  cannot  shake  his  image  off, 
Nor  loose  me  of  his  lot  so  twinned  with  mine 
And  brothered  deeply  in  our  very  hearts; 
Fresh  throbs  keep  bubbling  up  from  depths  un- 
known. 
Another  thought  comes  creeping-in  uncanny, 
And  tongues  me  its  forbidden  secrecy : 
I  am  a  fatal  love  to  mine  most  dear, 
So  that  I  have  to  fear  a  new  affection ; 
My  strongest  feelings  coiling  serpentine 
Crush  in  their  mortal  folds  just  my  beloved. 

But  see !  here  drops  the  interruption  dread 

Which  drives  to  nought  my  higher  intercourse; 

A  member  of  my  Lower  Cabinet 

That  comes  to  touch  me  at  some  faulted  point, 

Pulling  me  down  to  vision  temporal 

Which  only  sees  the  task  of  finitude ; 

I  know  what  he  will  say  just  by  his  gait 

Which  hints  the  soldier's  charge  with  gun  in  hand. 

That  too  has  now  become  my  part,  alas ! 

But  let  us  listen  to  his  shot  of  words. 


}  5 


!0ali  S^l^irb, 


The  Lower  Cabinet. 

The  President. 

Welcome,  my  fellow-craftsman  of  the  States,  what 
views  and  news  do  you  bring  me  ?  You  look  intent 
upon  somewhat — hit  me  with  your  cannon-ball  of 
thought;  you  are  a  soldier  bred,  though  now  you 
take  a  peaceful  part. 

Postmaster  General. 
I  confess  I  do  not  feel  in  fun  to-day,  nor  am  I 
much  at  peace  with  myself  or  with  things  in  gen- 
eral. 

The  President. 
I  did  not  intend  to  hint  that  you  were  not  in  war- 
like mood.    Let  us  hear. 
(44) 


THE  LOWER  CABINET.  45 

Postmaster  General. 
I  come  again  to  urge  upon  you,  Mr.  President, 
the  Proclamation  calling  for  troops  to  put  down  this 
rebellion  which  has  now  started  with  such  insolent 
audacity.  You  know  I  always  held  that  we  ought 
to  have  re-inforced  Fort  Sumter.  You  recollect 
that  I  said  so  in  a  communication  to  you  some  weeks 
ago.  South  Carolina  is  the  leader  in  this  conflict, 
and  we  must  not  shrink  from  her  challenge. 

The  President. 
Yes,  that  has  been  your  consistent  attitude,  the 
force  of  which  I  always  felt.  But  I  had  to  be  sure 
before  I  struck.  There  was  one  man  needed  for  the 
side  of  the  Union,  about  whom  I  did  not  feel  certain. 
But  now  I  have  no  doubts. 

Postmaster  General. 

Who  is  that,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  make  the  in- 
quiry ? 

The  President. 

It  is  Douglas.  I  knew  that  I  had  to  have  him  first 
of  all.  He  left  me  but  a  short  time  ago ;  I  read  him 
the  draft  of  the  Proclamation.  He  gave  it  not  only 
his  approval,  but  he  offered  his  hearty  co-operation. 
It  will  go  forth  to-morrow  morning  backed  by  my 
signature  and  also  by  his  confirmatory  word  which 
is  an  appeal  to  his  followers. 


46    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  III. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  would  have  gone  ahead  without  him.  He  is 
tricky,  you  know ;  can  you  be  sure  of  him  now  in  his 
present  mood? 

The  President. 

I  have  indeed  suspected  him  hitherto,  but  I  de- 
fend him  now,  and  trust  him ;  I  have  learned  some- 
thing about  him  wholly  unknown  by  me  heretofore. 
I  caught  a  glimpse  of  what  lies  deepest  in  him — 
which  I  never  did  during  all  the  years  I  had  known 
him.  Strange,  but  I  now  for  the  first  time  consider 
that  I  understand  Douglas. 

Postmaster  General. 

But  how  about  Seward,  the  man  of  peace  and 
compromise?  Also  our  Premier,  if  not  to  be  our 
secret  President?  He  thought  he  would  end  this 
conflict  in  ninety  days,  and  seemed  inclined  to  take 
into  his  own  hands  all  dealings  with  those  Southern 
Commissioners  of  separation. 

The  President. 

Well,  Seward  is  becoming  my  most  ardent  up- 
holder; he  has  begun  to  show  an  attachment  which 
is  not  merely  dutiful  but  personal.  At  first  he  was, 
I  grant,  somewhat  dominating  and  self-important. 
A  very  useful  man ;  I  need  his  keen  mind,  his  learn- 


THE  LOWER  CABINET.  47 

ing,  his  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs.     Then  he 
sees  turns  in  events  that  nobody  else  does. 

Postmaster  General. 

That  is  a  great  conquest  of  yours.  Seward  at  the 
start  deemed  himself  the  real  Executive — and  many 
others  held  the  same  view,  having  some  contempt  for 
the  green  Illinois  sucker.  So  he  set  up  to  prescribe 
a  policy  of  his  o^vn,  even  to  carry  it  out.  But  we 
know  that  he  was  gently  though  firmly  halted  by 
the  gloved  hand  of  iron,  for  Avhich  his  respect  is 
growing.  The  general  scope  of  that  confidential 
letter  of  his  to  you  leaked  out,  for  he  did  not  con- 
ceal its  purport ;  his  self-love  would  wag  his  tongue 
a  little  even  to  me.  What  answer  he  received  from 
you  we  have  all  surmised  from  his  changed  behav- 
ior ;  but  your  lips  seem  paralyzed  on  that  point. 

The  President. 

He  is  my  friend;  I  hope  to  retain  him — an  in- 
dispensable adviser  in  the  present  crisis.  His  aloof- 
ness is  gone;  he  has  become  a  kind  of  non-official 
comforter  of  mine — a  person  I  much  need. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  must  congratulate  you  just  here  on  having  tak- 
en with  success  the  first  great  step  toward  Union, 
the  most  direct  step.    You  have  unionized  your  Cab- 


48    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  III. 

inet  which  seemed  at  the  start  enthroned  dissen- 
tienee.  Four  of  its  present  members  were  your  rivals 
in  the  Convention  at  Chicago  which  nominated  you 
for  President.  Each  of  them  naturally  thinks  that 
he  should  be  in  your  place.  I  trembled  lest  that  the 
very  center  of  the  Government,  the  President  and 
his  nearest  advisors,  would  never  cordially  combine 
in  unity;  here  just  at  the  heart  threatened  to  be 
the  first  and  most  dangerous  Secession,  But  you 
have  well  asserted  your  Primacy,  forecasting,  I  hope 
and  believe,  the  Primacy  of  our  political  Union, 
which  we  are  now  getting  ready  to  assert  by  arms. 
I  can  truly  say  that  when  I  entered  your  Cabinet,  I 
thought  its  composition  perilous;  it  seemed  a  kind 
of  powder  magazine  right  here  in  the  White  House 
— and  everybody  handling  fire. 

The  President. 

Yes,  I  have  been  blamed  for  this  as  well  as  for 
everything  else,  and  will  be.  I  shall  impart  to  you 
my  most  intimate  thoughts  on  this  point.  The  very 
strongest  men,  the  supreme  representatives  of  the 
People  of  the  various  loyal  sections  I  had  to  take 
as  my  instruments  for  this  decisive  conflict  of  the 
Nation,  and  mould  them  into  one  organic  body  with 
its  huge  limbs,  each  of  which  is  authoritative  in  its 
sphere,  as  a  so-called  department  of  Government.  I 
felt  that  I  could  not  avoid  the  test:  I  was  to  make 


THE  LOWER  CABINET.  49 

over  into  a  eommou  organism  the  separate  greatest 
individuals  of  my  party  and  bring  them  to  work  in 
harmony ;  I  dared  not  leave  them  outside  by  them- 
selves, where  they  would  be  certain  to  lapse  into  op- 
position; I  must  compel  them  to  co-operate.  If  I 
were  not  strong  enough  to  do  that,  I  would  be  un- 
equal to  the  situation  at  the  start.  I  know  the  com- 
mon prophecy  that  these  members  of  my  larger 
body  were  too  big  for  me  and  would  not  obey,  that 
they  would  fly  asunder  from  the  center,  and  that 
the  first  Disunion  would  be  in  the  Union's  Cabinet. 
The  matter  is  not  fully  settled  yet.  I  doubtless  have 
one  or  two  dissatisfied  associates — I  think  I  know 
who  they  are,  and  the  bent  they  will  take.  Still  I 
hope  to  carry  you  all  along  in  a  general  harmony, 
notwithstanding  individual  diversities,  which  make 
you  a  set  of  strong  characters.  If  you  were  all  just 
like  me  you  would  be  a  band  of  non-entities.  I 
would  not  deem  myself  equal  to  my  position  unless 
I  could  hold  together  powerful  but  differing  natures 
in  our  common  work  which  is  big  enough  for  us  all. 
Still,  that  which  peculiarly  gratifies  me  at  present  is 
that  I  have  not  only  unified  my  own  party  but  the 
opposite  party,  that  of  Douglas,  with  our  cause. 

Postmaster  General. 
"Why  do  you  put  so  much  stress  upon  him  just 
now?    And  why  so  needful  his  co-operation?    But 


50   LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  III. 

above  all,  why  so  certain  of  the  certainty  of  him — 
just  him  the  uncertain? 

The  President. 
Your  opinion  is  what  mine  was  for  many  years. 
But  I  now  know  that  I  saw  only  the  outside  of  him, 
I  never  penetrated  to  the  center  of  the  man,  to  his 
creative  conviction.  I  shall  tell  you.  Douglas  is  at 
this  moment  the  pivot  of  the  whole  conflict — he  is 
the  only  man  who  can  unite  the  North  and  divide 
the  South;  that  I  deem  the  prime  condition  of  any 
future  success.  Think  of  him:  he  is  the  most  im- 
portant man  in  America  to-day,  with  altogether  the 
largest  personal  following;  I  hold  him  to  be  the 
central  personality  in  our  Nation's  destiny  at  the 
present  conjuncture,  more  central  than  I  am,  the 
President  himself,  who  defeated  him  at  the  polls. 
Yet  he  has  come  to  me  voluntarily  and  placed  him- 
self and  his  influence  at  the  service  of  the  Union; 
yea  he  has  enlisted  personally  under  me  as  leader, 
and  I  have  sent  him  on  the  most  important  duty. 

Postmaster  General. 

All  that  is  very  appreciative  of  your  recent  an- 
tagonist, but  you  have  changed  your  opinion  of  him 
not  a  little.  I  hope  you  are  justified.  I  recognize 
that  men  and  circumstances  are  shifting  very  rap- 
idly just  now.  The  turn  of  the  wheel  dizzies  me  and 
everybody. 


THE  LOWER  CABINET.  51 

The  President. 
Of  course  I  am  speaking  of  this  day's  trend  of 
history;  to-morrow  the  situation  may  be  different. 
Still  I  have  the  dominant  conviction  that  my  turn 
will  come.  But  we  all  are  agents  in  the  work  of  a 
higher  mind  which  has  its  pole  star  hardly  visible 
to  us  just  now.    Still  I  am  M'atchiug  for  it  eagerly. 

Postmaster  General. 

"Well,  that  is  a  new  strain  in  your  nature  which  I 
have  never  noted  before.  And  that  mind  also  you 
must  consult  as  our  supreme  leader.  Have  you  any 
communication  ? 

The  President. 

You  m'ight  not  understand  it  if  I  could  tell.  Still 
so  much  I  dare  confess :  above  me,  above  my  Cabinet 
and  my  party,  above  both  the  North  and  the  South, 
there  is  a  Will  at  work  with  His  plan,  of  which  I 
would  like  to  know  somewhat  and  which  I  often  in- 
terrogate in  my  own  imperfect  way.  What  have  the 
Powers  in  mind  by  all  this  trouble — what  do  they 
mean  by  defeat,  yea  by  victory  ?  It  is  another  set 
of  advisers  whom  I  have  to  consult  and  whose  de- 
cree I  fain  would  hear  amid  all  this  tumult  of  hu- 
man deeds  and  purposes.  Our  conflict  is  not  ours 
alone,  but  all  time's — a  link  in  the  chain  which 
reaches  from  past  to  future,  a  node  of  the  World's 
History.    And  there  is  a  universal  overseer  giving 


52   LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  III. 

directions  in  his  mj^sterious  hierroglypliics  called 
events,  hard  to  decipher.  Still,  I  think  I  sometimes 
catch  his  far-off  voice  which  I  would  re-speak  or  re- 
interpret to  my  people  and  to  my  age.  Pardon  my 
fantasy,  but  even  his  shape  has  fleeted  before  me 
in  revery  or  dreams;  oftener  there  appears  one  of 
his  ministering  messengers.  So  you  see  I  have  a 
President  above  the  President,  and  even  a  Cabinet 
above  the  Cabinet. 

Postmaster  General. 
Now  you  are  out  of  my  reach — I  am  not  a  mem- 
ber there.    Business  calls  me  down.    I  must  be  off  to 
meet  the  earth  again,  which  is  a  busy  speck  for  us 
all  at  present. 

The  President. 

It  is  enough  for  once,  perhaps  too  much.  In  this 
time  of  war  may  peace  caress  you  on  your  daily 
lines. 


loali  JfaiirtI;. 


The  Upper  Cabinet. 

The  minister  of  State  had  gone  his  way 
When  Lincoln  dropped  again  upon  his  couch, 
And  never  seemed  to  stop  till  he  sank  down 
Into  the  lowest  depths  of  consciousness, 
Where  the  old  soul  re-bears  itself  anew 
And  dips  afresh  into  Creation's  font. 
Then  of  a  sudden  he  looked  up  and  saw 
Himself  as  double  flit  by  stealthily 
And  mope  about  in  silent  salutation. 
His  duplicated  self  appeared  to  him 
As  he  had  once  beheld  it  rise  at  Springfield, 
Before  his  journey  to  the  Capital. 
He  much  had  mused  at  its  significance, 
Deeming  it  but  his  superstition 's  shade, 

(53) 


54    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IV. 

Or  witeh-work  of  his  melancholy  spun, 

The  mere  abuse  of  troubled  fantasy. 

But  here  it  comes  again,  a  double  I  am, 

And  the  twin  shapes  distinct,  yet  likenesses, 

Seem  of  a  different  constitution : 

The  one  shows  vigorous  and  full  of  life. 

Ready  to  grip  the  task  with  clutch  of  Will; 

The  other  shadowy  and  vanishing 

As  if  it  would  pass  to  the  realm  beyond, 

A  member  of  that  Upper  Cabinet. 

So  Lincoln  gazed  upon  himself  twofold : 

Belonging  here,  most  real  of  flesh  and  blood, 

Yet  too  a  dweller  of  the  world  ideal 

Amid  the  spirit  sway  of  essences. 

The  underself  stood  by  in  nature's  frame 

And  stared  eye-bulged  in  mortal  wonderment; 

Yet  in  his  semblance  rose  before  him  there 

The  overself  as  ghostly  counterpart 

Until  it  faded  with  a  fraying  look 

At  him  into  the  spectre-haunted  air. 

Lincoln  sprang  up  and  walked  across  the  room, 

' '  I  know  me  doomed  to  die  by  violence ! ' ' 

He  uttered  slowly  to  his  measured  gait 

And  then  went  on  reflecting  to  himself : 

' '  There  is  a  Presence  in  this  White-House  here 
Which  sheds  an  influence  about  my  steps 
Distinctive  in  its  ghostly  character. 


THE  UPPER  CABINET.  55 

Although  some  shy  familiars  bodiless 

I  long  have  known  to  dart  into  my  life 

At  moments  when  I  least  expected  them, 

This  Presence  seems  to  dwell  about  the  place, 

And  never  wholly  quits  these  premises 

As  if  he  held  this  mansion  by  o^\ti  right, 

Installed  just  here  in  sovereign  residence. 

He  acts  as  he  would  stay  and  supervise 

The  present  broil  which  is  his  interest ; 

Methinks  he  has  enlisted  for  the  war, 

And  holds  his  hand  on  the  machinery 

"Whose  clock-work  of  events  times  History. 

He  oft  gives  me  the  impress  of  his  view 

Of  what  is  coming  in  this  woful  strife, 

And  breathes  suggestion  voiceless  on  my  soul, 

Though  once  he  tapped  my  ear-drum  with  a  word 

Of  spirit  syllables  rufiSing  the  air. 

He  seems  at  times  to  play  the  messenger, 
And  bring  the  one  I  need  and  most  desire. 
Or  somehow  move  the  man  to  bring  himself 
By  touching  inner  springs  unwatched  of  us 
Which  drive  the  soul  to  seek  its  symmetry. 
How  deeply  longed  I  in  my  heart  for  Douglas, 
Then  felt  that  he  was  speeding  on  his  way 
When  he  appeared  in  a  fulfillment  sudden 
To  be  my  spirit's  very  counterpart. 
And  yet  expected  in  my  soul  of  presage ! 


56    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  17. 

He  felt  it  too,  the  unconscious  pull — 

So  much  he  intimated  in  his  talk — 

And  hastened  to  obey  the  Power 's  edict. 

"What  was  it  that  impressed  him  hitherward, 

And  bade  me  feel  that  he  was  on  his  way 

Until  I  super-sensed  him  at  my  sill  ? 

I  oft  am  led  to  query  with  myself : 

Who  is  it  living  here  in  this  old  mansion  ? 

I  and  my  family — but  who  indwells  besides  ? 

Who  is  this  House 's  higher  resident  ? 

Six  weeks  or  so  have  gone  since  I  came  in, 

Already  then  I  found  an  occupant — 

Yea,  occupants — more  than  the  one  alone. 

Without  my  knowing  what  at  first  they  were. 

Those  Presences  would  flit  with  messages, 

Impressions  sent  of  what  was  distant  from  me 

In  place  or  time,  yet  most  significant, 

And  traversing  all  my  expectancy. 

They  make  my  other  world  of  agencies. 

And  I  must  know  them  better  than  I  do. 

Find  out  what  is  their  function  and  their  order. 

For  they  are  ranked  in  duties  organized ; 

A  kind  of  hierarchy  I  have  marked 

Methinks  among  their  airy  services. 

Even  I  would  control  them  somewhat,  too, 

At  least  have  skill  to  summon  them  for  help 

When  I  would  have  a  hint  of  the  decrees 

Hid  in  the  bosom  of  Supernal  Powers, 


THE  UPPER  CABINET.  57 

For  whom  at  last  I  wield  my  human  will. 
And  thus  to  school  I  have  to  go  again, 
Learning  how  I  may  tap  that  overworld 
In  which  those  Presences  abide  and  act, 
That  I  may  bid  them  tell  me  what  I  need. 
And  teach  me  ways  of  discipline  divine, 
Man's  dues  of  individuality. 

Two  sets  of  tenants  then,  dwell  with  me  here 

In  this  weird  White-House — the  unseen  and  seen, 

The  uninvited  guests  and  the  invited. 

The  right  possessors  and  possessed  perchance; 

Aye,  ever  since  that  day  I  entered  it 

I  felt  already  it  and  me  possessed 

By  something  of  a  higher  majesty. 

This  is  for  me,  I  deem,  a  haunted  House 

Whose  spirits  I  must  know  and  treat  with  love, 

I  must  not  shun  them  here,  or  be  afraid 

Of  semblances,  though  supersensible. 

But  cultivate  their  friendship  and  their  ways 

For  sake  of  intercourse ;  what  they  impart 

May  be  of  weighty  import  to  me  in  my  task, 

For  which  I  seek  suggestion  everywhere. 

But  the  last  guidance  I  shall  hope  to  win 

From  guider  of  the  Universe  itself. 

Yet  I  must  keep  this  upper  world  concealed 
From  the  gross  gazes  of  my  visitors 


58    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IV. 

Lest  men  may  think  I  hold  forbidden  rites, 

Invoking  the  dark  powers  of  evil, 

Perchance  compacting  with  the  fiend  himself 

To  reach  the  goal  of  Heaven  by  road  of  Hell. 

Or  if  not  that,  I  shall  be  held  in  scorn 

By  those  who  claim  themselves  illuminated 

With  science  torching  now  our  time  advanced, 

And  looked  down  on  from  its  disdainful  perch 

As  victim  of  my  superstitious  dread, 

Which  terrorizes  weaker  men  to  faith 

And  toys  with  Godship  lost  upon  our  planet. 

Still  of  one  fact  I  have  become  convinced. 

Two  sets  I  own  of  my  advisers  here 

Who  sit  with  me  in  weight}^  consultation: 

The  one  I  never  did  appoint — it  came 

Without  my  knowledge  of  its  home,  and  stays. 

For  I  am  not  its  master  or  its  sender. 

The  other  I  selected  by  my  will, 

A  group  of  mortal  men  and  visible. 

Over  whose  acts  I  have  the  potency 

As  President,  but  mortal  too,  I  feel. 

So  these  two  strands  keep  weaving  through  my  life, 

An  upper  and  a  lower  I  shall  name  them ; 

The  one  of  record  and  in  public  print. 

Whose  sounds  go  flying  daily  round  the  earth; 

The  other  runs  unuttered  of  its  share, 

The  deeper  current,  silent  in  my  deeds. 

Whose  sole  apocalypse  is  Time's  forged  word. 


THE  UPPER  CABINET.  59 

And  yet  I  often  have  to  speak  it  out 

For  my  relief,  which  lips  will  sometimes  give, 

But  I  must  tell  my  discourse  to  myself, 

And  with  soliloquies  my  heart  disburden ; 

Or  when  my  inner  stress  becomes  too  strong 

I  run  to  let  me  overflow  Ward  Lamon, 

My  soul-deep  friend  whom  I  have  hither  brought 

To  guard  me  outwardly  and  lift  me  inwardly. 

0  Douglas,  thou  dost  come  again  to  me 

In  images  foresent  of  sleep  and  dream — 

Foreshadowing  thy  day  of  destiny ! 

Ah  me !  thy  lot  is  happier  than  mine ! 

Stricken  at  height  of  thy  supremacy, 

In  the  transfigured  glow  of  highest  deed ! 

But  I  must  lead  henceforth  a  wayworn  life 

Impoverished  of  all  success  and  peace, 

Abused  of  foes,  unrecognized  of  friends, 

But  when  my  work  and  worth  win  recognition, 

No  longer  here  I  shall  be  to  receive  it. 

Two  Cabinets  are  mine,  which  meet  in  me 

And  through  me  join  in  one  vast  common  purpose ; 

The  upper  one  me  calls  and  comes  unbidden ; 

The  lower  one  I  bid  into  my  presence. 

Well,  here  it  is  and  I  must  talk  with  it. 

Offering  this  written  document 

Which  is  to  turn  a  page  of  history 

Unless  time's  drift  I  much  miscalculate." 


i00h  Jfift^. 


The  First  Proclamation. 

Attorney  General. 
I  observe,  Mr.  President,  in  your  hands  a  written 
instrument  which  I  take  to  be  of  great  import.  As 
I  am  your  law  officer  I  would  like  to  glance  over  it 
and  see  whether  it  be  bomb-proof.  If  it  be  a  call 
for  troops,  you  are  aware  that  heavy  explosives  will 
be  hurled  at  it  by  the  lawyers. 

The  President. 

I  know  the  class  somewhat,  I  am  one  myself,  and 
have  expected  their  attack.  But  I  have  followed  the 
indications  which  you  gave  me  in  a  recent  inter- 
view. That  old  statute  dug  up  from  the  year  1795 
we  have  followed  to  the  letter,  and  complied  with 
its  requirements,  though  they  cramped  us  somewhat. 

(60) 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  Ql 

Still  we  shall  doubtless  get  the  relief  when  Congress 
assembles  which  is  called  to  meet  on  the  coming 
Fourth  of  July,  Our  Nation's  birthday. 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
Possibly  the  day  of  its  re-birth — there  is  need  of 
its  regeneration.    A  little  faith  may  see  it  coming. 
And  yet  this  second  parturition  may  be  as  painful 
as  the  first. 

Attorney  General. 
The  document  is  legal,  and  rightly  worded.  We 
must  sail  on  the  old  lines  even  to  a  new  port.  But 
how  suggestive!  That  statute  empowering  the 
President  to  suppress  rebellion  was  enacted  in  the 
time  of  George  Washington  of  Virginia.  He  was  to 
enforce  it  against  even  his  beloved  State  in  case  of 
revolt.  At  present  Virginia  says  No  to  it,  but  I, 
sprung  of  Virginians,  am  inclined  to  say  Yes. 

The  President. 

I  have  often  thought  about  what  you  speak  of 
during  the  past  month.  It  may  seem  my  egotism, 
but  I  cannot  help  seeing  Washington  in  my  place, 
and  asking  what  he  would  have  done  in  the  present 
contingency.  My  forefathers,  too,  came  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  the  family  I  have  always  heard  of  that 
State  and  its  glory.  But  it  has  long  been  in  a  con- 
flict with  itself  between  the  two  rights,  that  of 


62     LINCOLN  7A^  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  Y. 

Union  and  of  Secession.  So  it  hangs  tetering  now  in 
its  Convention,  and  I  have  been  waiting  and  even 
trying  to  steady  it,  yet  to  no  purpose.  It  still  teters, 
and  loves  just  that  condition — but  with  this  Procla- 
mation it  must  cease  its  balancing,  it  will  have  to 
drop  on  one  side  or  the  other,  or  probably  it  will 
fall  asunder  on  both  sides.  Do  you  know  I  feel  that 
my  chief  struggle  is  with  Virginia — her  influence, 
her  history,  her  very  person. 

Attorney  General. 

I  have  hunted  up  and  read  again  the  Eesolutions 
of  1798,  attributed  to  Jefferson  Avhich  declare  that 
each  State  is  the  final  judge  of  the  powers  delegated 
to  the  General  Government,  as  well  as  of  the  in- 
fractions committed  by  the  same,  and  even  of  the 
mode  and  measure  of  redress.  How  true  is  that  of 
Virginia  now,  her  very  soul  at  this  moment,  yet 
with  strong  protests  against  the  doctrine  also !  It 
contains  the  germ  of  all  this  secession  fostered  by 
Virginia  leadership  both  in  thought  and  in  action. 

The  President. 

Undoubtedly.  I  have  been  studying  not  only  the 
law  of  the  case,  but  something  deeper :  that  Virginia 
consciousness  which  cannot  transcend  its  limit  and 
rise  into  the  vision  of  the  Nation  with  the  most  of 
us.  Indeed  the  whole  South  seems  honestly  to  be- 
lieve that  the  State  alone  is  the  true  guardian  of 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  63 

liberty,  while  all  the  States  together  in  their  united 
government  must  be  its  foe.  On  the  other  hand  the 
North,  or  especially  the  new  North- West,  holds  em- 
phatically the  conviction  that  the  total  Union  will 
preserve  freedom  better  and  more  mightily  than  the 
single  State.  These  two  opposing  political  thoughts 
have  now  appealed  to  the  trial  of  battle — here  is  the 
challenge,  very  unwillingly  sent  forth  in  this  Proc- 
lamation. Strange,  but  Jefferson  had  this  same  lim- 
itation stamped  on  his  political  soul,  so  had  Madi- 
son, so  too  the  Virginia  leaders  since  then,  who  have 
been  ossified  in  this  same  fixed  mental  boundary, 
like  Fate  itself.  But  there  was  one  greatest  excep- 
tion— that  was  George  Washington. 

Attorney  General. 
Hold,  there  was  another  exception  very  great, 
also  from  Virginia,  Chief-Justice  of  the  United 
States,  John  Marshall.  In  his  case  too  I  have  been 
looking  up  the  precedents  in  the  Reports  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  find  that  he  fought  legally  just 
this  battle  between  Union  and  Disunion  in  the  early 
years  of  the  present  century,  and  won  the  fight  even 
against  Jefferson  and  other  Virginians.  He  vindi- 
cated the  right  of  the  Federal  Judiciary  to  pass 
upon  the  constitutionality  of  State  laws,  and  of  de- 
cisions by  State  judges.  So  the  legal  war  for  the 
Union  was  waged  long  in  advance  of  this  war  of 
guns — may  we  be  as  successful  as  John  Marshall ! 


64     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  V. 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
Dear  me !  You  Virginians  can  only  think  of  Vir- 
ginia and  legality.  You  all  seem  closely  fenced 
about  by  the  written  enactment.  But  I  tell  you 
there  is  another  law,  that  inscribed  on  the  human 
heart,  more  enduring  and  mightier  than  what  you 
scribble  on  a  piece  of  paper.  That  is  the  law  we 
obey  and  propagate  up  in  New  England,  the  moral 
law.  Our  mouthpieces  are  not  the  lawyers,  but  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel;  they  have  already  had 
something  to  say  in  this  struggle,  and  they  will  be 
heard  again  before  it  is  over. 

The  President. 

Good !  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  from  our 
Heaven-born  Yankee  constituency,  and  certainly 
they  are  not  to  be  left  out.  I  share  in  their  belief, 
especially  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  moral 
view  is  also  mine,  but  it  must  not  try  to  make  itself 
tyrannically  the  only  one,  else  John  Brown  rises  to 
the  surface. 

Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

Since  this  talk  has  gotten  a  little  sectional,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  put  in  a  word  for  my  section.  I 
have  often  noticed  that  when  the  Virginian  breaks 
loose  from  his  fatal  sod,  crosses  the  Alleghenies  and 
breathes  the  free  air  of  the  West,  he  undergoes  a 
transformation:  he  cleaves  his  State  fetters  and 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  65 

turns  national  in  the  best  sense.  He  seems  unable 
to  do  that  on  this  side  of  the  mountains.  He  must 
quit  the  old  colony  with  its  diseased  dualism,  must 
come  out  to  us  and  get  healed,  then  he  can  return 
and  possibly  bring  along  the  medicine  to  cure  the 
trouble  here,  though  it  be  of  long  standing,  veritably 
chronic. 

The  President. 

That  would  be  a  good  political  speech  out  in  your 
State  of  Indiana,  but  in  these  parts  the  Virginians 
would  call  it  clap-trap  if  they  were  genteel ;  if  not, 
they  have  for  it  worse  names,  as  they  have  for  me. 
But  something  of  what  you  say  appears  to  be  al- 
ready in  the  course  of  fulfilment;  a  number  of  us 
Western  Virginians  have  come  back  to  the  good  old 
graying  mother  who  is  not  in  happy  sorts  at  our  ar- 
rival. Still  our  purpose  is  to  stay  awhile.  Won- 
derful old  lady !  altogether  the  greatest  of  those  co- 
lonial mothers,  more  prolific  of  State  children  and 
of  lofty  political  characters  than  any  other  one  of 
the  ancient  set  here  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  I  con- 
fess my  love  for  her  illustrious  men  and  for  her  in 
person.    I  wish  she  could  be  present  with  us  now. 

But  here  comes  the  New  Yorker,  another  ingredi- 
ent in  our  national  melting-pot.  By  his  looks  he 
has  some  big  idea  ready  to  burst  into  that  lofty 
rhetoric  of  his,  in  which  the  muse  of  History  sits  en- 
trancing us  with  her  display  of  rich  vestments. 


66     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  V. 

Come,  Mr.  Secretary,  let  the  fountains  spout  some 
rainbows. 

Secretary  of  State. 
(Entering.)  I  am  agreed — nothing  is  left  to  us 
but  war,  all  my  efforts  at  conciliation  have  failed. 
The  call  for  troops  must  now  be  issued,  and  with  it 
the  assertion  of  the  Nation 's  sovereignty.  As  to  me, 
I  sought  to  waive  the  test,  I  tried  to  shun  in  word 
and  deed  the  coercion  of  a  State,  so  offensive  even 
to  the  Southern  Unionists;  but  a  mightier  Volition 
has  otherwise  decreed  and  forced  the  issue  in  spite 
of  us.  South  Carolina  is,  I  hold,  the  unwilling  in- 
strument of  the  World's  History;  it  is  compelling 
the  Union 's  authority,  even  while  defying  the  same ; 
it  is  bringing  about  just  the  opposite  of  w^hat  it 
intends.  It  is  going  to  lose  just  what  it  has  taken 
arms  to  secure — State  Sovereignty;  indeed  I  pre- 
dict that  its  method  of  defending  slavery  is  what 
will  destroy  the  same.  Lincoln,  I  love  to  see  the 
irony  of  History  at  play,  it  is  as  good  as  your 
humor.  Indeed  Providence  is  the  supreme  historic 
humorist,  often  with  an  ironical  twist  in  those  deal- 
ings of  his  called  events. 

The  President. 

Yes,  we  shall  have  to  vindicate  the  South  against 

itself,   against  the  logic  of  its  own  deed,   which 

simply  tears  it  to  pieces.     It  lias  already  formed  a 

union  with  the  right  of  secession  in  it — with  the 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  67 

right  of  any  single  State  to  break  it  up  at  will,  or 
rather  at  caprice.  This  State  caprice  is  what  must 
now  be  eliminated  from  our  political  system.  Surely 
I  am  defending  the  South  against  itself,  if  it  could 
only  see  calmly  what  it  is  doing.  The  Primacy  of 
our  Union  I  have  first  truly  uttered  in  the  Procla- 
mation ;  next  it  must  be  enforced  by  arms ;  finally  I 
think  it  will  have  to  be  put  into  our  organic  instru- 
ment, the  Constitution.  This  will  then  be  the  new 
Constitution  of  the  new  Nation. 

Secretary  of  State. 
Yes,  that  Proclamation,  it  means  much.  It  is  the 
first  push  of  a  great  new  epoch;  it  proclaims  the 
majesty  of  the  Nation,  not  of  the  personal  ruler  or 
king.  Let  me  hear  it  again,  while  the  other  mem- 
bers are  coming  in,  at  least  the  first  paragraphs. 

The  President. 

I  am  glad  to  re-read  it  and  to  re-think  it  too — 
the  first  real  move  toward  a  re-united  country. 

''Whereas  the  Laws  of  the  United  States  have 
been  for  some  time  past  and  are  now  being  opposed, 
and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed  in  the  States 
of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by  combinations 
too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary 
course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the  powers 
vested  in  the  marshals  by  law : 


68    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  V. 

"Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  in  virtue  of  the  power  vested 
in  me  by  the  Constitution  and  the  Laws,  have 
thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  do  hereby  call  forth 
the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  to 
the  aggregate  number  of  seventy-five  thousand,  in 
order  to  suppress  said  combination  and  to  cause 
the  Laws  to  be  duly  executed. 

"I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate, 
and  aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  in- 
tegrity, and  the  existence  of  our  National  Union, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government ;  and  to 
redress  the  wrongs  already  long  enough  endured." 

Secretary  of  State. 

"With  what  a  whole-hearted  uplift  I  shall  haste 
to  affix  my  hand  and  seal  to  that  instrument  which 
for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  means  Nationality ! 
Firm  as  adamant,  yet  calm  in  tone,  it  heralds  the 
incoming  order — the  Primacy  of  the  Union.  Mr. 
President,  in  your  Inaugural  I  recollect  that  you 
uttered  the  principle;  but  here  you  take  a  colossal 
stride  forward;  you  advance  like  a  giant  to  the 
execution.  This  Proclamation  I  hold  to  be  the 
grand  test  of  our  new  Nation;  the  issue  is  drawn 
clear,  the  long  uncertainty  and  dubitation  about 
our  new  existence  must  at  once  end. 

But  now  comes  the  question :  will  the  People  re- 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  69 

spond?  Are  they  ready  to  make  the  sacrifice? 
Have  they  the  will  to  nationalize  themselves,  though 
it  cost  blood,  treasure,  precious  lives?  And  this 
is  to  be  not  merely  a  Nation  of  the  old  separated 
European  sort,  but  the  new  federated  Union,  the 
next  great  stage,  I  believe,  in  the  World's  His- 
tory. Can  we  advance  and  grasp  the  fresh  in- 
heritance of  the  ages?  This  Proclamation  says 
that  we  can,  we  must.  But  the  South,  through  the 
doctrine  of  secession,  tends  to  lapse  backward  to 
Europe  with  its  political  separation,  to  recur  to  a 
group  of  ever-clashing  jealous  States  grinding  hor- 
ribly on  their  boundaries.  We  must  transcend  all 
our  fatherlands  across  the  water  in  just  that — so 
I  read  the  Proclamation  before  us.  And  it  seems 
by  the  already  thunderous  response  of  the  People 
from  every  side  overflowing  this  Capital  that  they 
are  getting  ready  to  march.  But  here  comes  the 
man  in  whose  office  all  this  tramp  and  shout  of 
soldiery  centers:  let  us  hear  his  report. 

Secretary  of  War. 

(Enters.)  What!  am  I  the  last!  All  here  but 
one,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  I  could  hardly 
pull  myself  away  from  the  overwhelming  rush  at 
my  headquarters — the  offers  of  men  from  all  the 
Northern  States,  the  solicitations  of  volunteers  to 
be  accept'^d,  the  requests  for  arms,  with  thousands 


70     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  V. 

of  Other  details.  The  war  spirit  is  seething  East 
and  West— it  threatens  to  get  uncontrollable.  That 
attack  on  Sumter  has  stirred  up  the  People  from 
the  bottom.  They  are  asking  for  the  Proclamation 
in  advance;  it  cannot  be  issued  too  soon;  already 
their  souls  are  marching  on,  and  impatiently  wait 
for  their  bodies  to  follow. 

The  President. 

So  we  have  begun  to  feel  ourselves  a  Nation ;  we 
must  now  will  ourselves  to  be  one.  But  it  is  sad ; 
our  own  South  draws  the  limit  which  we  have  to 
pass  over  through  war  in  order  to  reach  our  true 
destiny  and  also  theirs.  Our  Capital  is  surrounded 
by  rebellion;  half  the  faces  on  the  street  are  un- 
friendly; this  city  must  first  be  nationalized;  the 
States  not  yet  seceded  must  soon  align  themselves 
on  one  side  or  the  other.  I  have  long  seen  that 
Virginia  will  respond  to  such  a  Proclamation  as 
this  by  secession;  she  claims  to  be  for  the  Union, 
but  her  unionism  must  be  transformed.  If  she 
could  dictate  to  the  Government,  she  would  stay; 
if  she  could  subordinate  the  Union,  she  would  help 
preserve  it ;  she  might  even  favor  its  sovereignty  if 
she  could  be  the  Sovereign.  But  this  Proclama- 
tion commands  her  to  put  herself  down — which 
she  will  not  do,  I  fear,  though  very  needful  for 
her  own  happiness,  yea  for  her  salvation.     That 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  7I 

line  between  North  and  South,  it  divides  my  heart ; 
still  I  shall  have  to  cut  it,  though  it  let  my  own 
blood. 

Secretary  of  State. 

Cheer  up,  Mr.  President,  this  Nation  is  not 
tragic,  not  fated,  though  the  individual  may  be, 
perchance  many  individuals.  Our  people  are  now 
fusing  together  in  the  white-hot  furnace  of  patriot- 
ism; they  are  showing  that  inner  union  of  spirit 
Avhich  is  to  make  our  political  Union.  For  months 
they  have  been  brooding,  smouldering  in  a  kind  of 
dubitation,  but  now  behold  the  outbreak  of  the 
flames.  Indeed  for  some  seventy  years  there  has 
been  a  continued  see-saw  over  the  point  of  sover- 
eignty— where  is  it  seated,  in  the  member  or  in 
the  Whole  ?  Your  Proclamation  not  only  announces 
but  commands  with  the  voice  of  the  Nation 
heard  authoritatively  now  for  the  first  time,  since 
after  all,  in  Andrew  Jackson's  episode,  the  matter 
was  left  uncertain,  and  settled  by  an  unsettling 
compromise,  which  simply  turned  the  crisis  over 
to  us.  The  age  is  calling  for  a  new  unity  by  oblit- 
erating the  old  separation  in  space ;  really  this  Cap- 
ital is  now  nearer  to  your  home  at  Springfield  than 
it  was  to  Richmond  in  the  time  of  George  Wash- 
ington. Distance  made  our  first  government  weak 
of  necessity;  but  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph 
have  long  unionized  Nature  herself,  of  whom  we 


72     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  V. 

are  the  children,  and  we  must  take  the  inheritance 
of  the  parent.  Then  the  ever-present  newspaper 
has  unified  our  North  in  spirit,  making  it  funda- 
mentally of  one  mind ;  so  cheer  up,  Mr.  President, 
we  have  enlisted  on  our  side  the  two  stoutest  sol- 
diers of  all  time,  called  Nature  and  Spirit. 

The  President. 
Excellent !  those  are  the  best  recruits,  and  I  shall 
put  you  in  command  to  summon  them  when  we  wish 
to  inspect  them.  Still,  like  all  soldiers,  they  must 
be  paid,  and  here  comes  our  missing  member,  the 
paymaster  himself. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

(Enters.)  Your  pardon,  gentlemen,  but  I  have 
been  delayed  by  an  effort  to  get  a  little  money  for 
meeting  the  immediate  needs  of  the  Government. 
A  difficult  task  to  raise  funds  where  no  credit  exists. 

But  let  me  first  speak  out  what  is  uppermost 
in  my  heart :  we  ought  to  strike  now  at  the  root  of 
the  trouble,  slavery.  Why  should  we  longer  tamper 
with  that  servile  institution?  I  tell  you,  I  do  not 
want  a  Union  restored  with  a  slave  in  it. 

The  President. 

The  Union  is  first  with  me,  in  accord  with  my 
oath,  and  still  more  in  accord  with  my  conviction. 
The  Union  undone  means  slavery  preserved,  but 
the  Union  preserved  may  mean  slavery  undone, 


THE  FIRST  PROCLAMATION.  73 

though  I  cannot  say  so  at  present.  Mr.  Secretary, 
I  shall  tell  you  how  I  look  at  the  lowering  situation. 
We  cannot  win  unless  we  unite  our  own  side, 
which  is  now  inclined  to  split  up  into  three  parties. 
First  are  the  strong  anti-slavery  people,  found 
everywhere,  but  especially  in  New  England,  Avhose 
hate  of  slavery  seems  greater  than  the  love  of  the 
Union ;  still  they  must  be  kept  in  line.  Second  are 
distinctively  the  anti-slavery  unionists,  to  whom  I 
have  belonged  with  the  bulk  of  the  North-West ;  in 
our  case  the  Union  is  first  and  the  slavery  question 
subordinate,  though  very  important.  But  the 
third  party  I  may  call  the  pro-slavery  unionists, 
the  bulk  of  the  people  of  the  border  States,  who 
are  now  the  pivot  of  the  war ;  without  them  we  can- 
not succeed.  They  will  fight  for  the  Union  with 
slavery  untouched  at  the  start — but  time  may  train 
them  to  see  that  they  must  give  up  the  one  or  the 
other,  perhaps  the  one  for  the  other.  We  must  wait 
till  then.  But  if  they  once  are  in  the  fight,  they 
will  stay  in — that  is  the  only  way  to  win  both 
stakes,  the  preservation  of  the  Union  as  well  as  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  But  let  us  watch  the  turn  of 
the  wheel — it  may  get  to  whizzing  very  rapidly. 

Hark!  the  newsboy's  shout!  What  does  he  say! 
Virginia  going  out,  gone!  And  getting  ready  to 
fight !  With  her  is  the  grand  conflict  for  suprem- 
acy !  Let  us  adjourn  to  listen  to  the  news — and  to 
our  own  souls. 


!00h  Sktl^* 


Mother  Virginia, 

Lincoln  again  had  laid  him  on  his  couch, 
The  cushioned  couch  on  which  he  kissed  repose ; 
And  yet  more  than  sweet  rest  he  fain  would  woo, 
He  sought  communion  with  his  world  above, 
Round  him  to  gather  his  Upper  Cabinet, 
If  it  would  fleet  perchance  down  to  his  side 
When  he  might  revery  or  drop  adream. 
So  he  lay  listening  to  the  mighty  roar 
Of  the  Oceanic  people  in  its  tempest 
Tiding  from  Maine  to  San  Francisco's  bay 
In  high  upheavals  of  its  tossing  heart 
Beating  his  call  to  nationality : 
When  he  was  ware  of  a  white  figure's  flit 
Before  him  there  mid  clouds  within  the  room: 

(74) 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  75 

Real  or  unreal — he  could  not  tell  at  first — 

It  hovered  somewhere  on  the  borderland 

And  let  him  feel  uncertain  of  himself, 

Whether  he  too  were  not  a  shade  as  well. 

Her  woman's  features  had  the  lines  of  age, 

But  she  was  wrinkled  more  with  haughty  scowls 

Than  with  Time 's  furrows  on  her  haggard  brow ; 

And  yet  beneath  looked  native  graciousness 

Which  rippled  still  amid  her  hottest  ire, 

And  in  her  self's  despite  stray  streaks  of  love, 

Would  flash  their  lightning  on  her  blackest  clouds. 

But  all  her  vesture 's  flowing  folds  were  blanched 

Like  marbled  Goddess  Greek  to  spotlessness. 

And  wreathed  her  form  in  a  disdainful  care 

Bespeaking  the  aristocratic  dame, 

Whose  art  of  dress  is  artless  trance  of  art. 

She  crooked  her  bony  finger's  menace  straight 

At  Lincoln  as  transfixing  him  with  fate. 

While  from  her  frenzied  eyes  blazed  rays  of  wrath 

Which  shot  a  fire-ball  to  the  very  soul. 

With  meteoric  play  on  skiey  blue. 

The  startled  President  upturned  and  stared. 

Propping  himself  upon  his  elbow  asked: 

"Who  art  thou,  stealthy  ghost,  slipping  uncalled 

Into  my  privacy  while  I  am  listening 

With  all  my  spirit's  sense  of  far-away. 

To  the  reverberations  thunderous 

Of  this  raged  folk-soul  echoing  my  M^ords 


76   LINCOLN  IN  TEE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

Over  the  stretches  of  a  continent 

Entire  from  the  Ocean's  East  to  the  Ocean's  West?" 

The  word  provoked  the  spectral  woman's  scorn 

Yet  more  to  maddened  lightning  from  her  look, 

Wliile  she  upstraightened  high  her  age's  stoop, 

And  stiffed  her  neck  to  austere  loftiness 

As  she  hissed  out  her  haughtiest  disdain: 

"That  shout  plebeian  venoms  in  my  ear. 

And  stings  me  with  the  serpent's  fang  infernal 

Until  I  pulse  with  vengeance  of  the  fiend ! 

Yet  my  best  warning  I  now  bring  to  thee, 

Remembering  the  work  of  my  great  sons; 

And  so  I  come,  the  old  colonial  mother, 

Indeed  the  oldest  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 

Mother  of  States,  still  throbbing  love  in  me 

Maternally,  yea  mother  of  this  Union 

Which  now  thou  dost  invite  to  strike  me  down. 

And  in  my  border  civil  strife  hast  brought. 

Invoked  my  blood  against  my  common  weal, 

To  set  thy  people  over  me  in  rule. 

Filial  ingratitude !  I  feel  it  more 

Than  aged  Lear  upon  the  fabled  scene ; 

My  wrongs  are  real,  not  pictured  for  the  stage. 

Are  present,  not  in  distant  time  or  place. 

I  hate — and  still  I  love  what  I  most  hate." 

Whereat  streamed  down  the  channels  of  her  cheeks 
The  hottest  rain  of  tearful  indignation; 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  77 

And  yet  almost  too  proud  to  be  indignant, 

With  too  much  heart  upheaving  through  her  heat, 

She  turned  away  her  look  affeetioned 

Till  somewhat  calmed  in  mien  and  word  she  spoke  : 

' '  My  blood  is  best  of  all  the  emigrants, 

Whoever  may  have  reached  this  Western  world ; 

My  deeds  the  greatest  in  its  history, 

My  sons  the  highest  in  authority, 

My  daughters  too  of  woman's  mould  supreme, 

The  loveliest  in  love  and  ladyhood; 

All  mine  are  mannered,  high-bred,  gentle  folk, 

Forgetless  aye  of  courtesy  and  chivalry. ' ' 

But  through  these  words  there  rolled  a  raucous 

shout, 
Like  a  refrain  discordant  with  their  mtisie, 
The  roar  it  rose  of  distant  multitudes 
Treading  to  angry  beat  of  fife  and  drum 
Or  to  shrill  trumpets  blaring  some  new  doom, 
So  that  this  final  sentence  of  her  praise 
Fell  quenched  just  at  the  passage  of  her  lips: 
"My  brain  it  is  which  still  controls  this  land." 
Lincoln's  amazement  was  not  yet  becalmed 
As  he  spake  to  himself  more  than  to  her: 
''An  order  new  seems  to  be  heralded 
Along  the  waves  of  that  tumultuous  shout 
Wliose  lines  keep  concentrating  on  me  here 
To  magistrate  the  coming  sweep  of  time. 
With  its  epiphany  of  great  events." 


78    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

Then  suddenly  the  ghostly  head  bent  sidelings, 
With  novel  scoff  the  nose  was  twirled  on  high, 
While  words  responsive  to  her  look  shot  out: 
"Railsplitter,  base-born  story-telling  clown, 
The  populace's  smattering  demagogue 
Whose  trade  is  smear  of  words:  You,  You! 
Successor  of  Virginia  Presidents ! 
This  generation's  rot  instead  of  birth! 
The  rabble 's  dregs  upbelched  to  rule  the  State ! 
Descendent  of  my  poorest  human  trash 
Now  risen  from  the  lees  up  to  the  head. 
You  will  make  edicts  for  my  Families ! 
Tremble,  I  bid  you,  at  my  queenly  name 
Baptized  me  at  old  Britain's  regal  font, 
Virginia — oft  will  it  shiver  you. ' ' 
And  still  the  rumble  multitudinous 
Would  intermingle  swallowing  her  voice 
In  spite  of  all  its  screaming  wealth  of  tones 
Which  shrilled  the  air  with  sudden  stabs. 

The  kindly  Lincoln  reared  himself  upright 
Saluting  that  hoar  presence  venerated 
By  him  in  memory  affectionate : 
"Full-hearted  I  do  welcome  thee,  Virginia, 
In  hope  just  now  I  turn  my  look  to  thee 
With  childhood 's  early  love  and  reverence ; 
The  source  incentred  of  me  too  thou  art — 
Thy  sons  have  taught  the  lore  I  know  of  State, 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  79 

Instilled  me  with  their  soul  of  institutions, 

And  I  would  not  of  thee  be  all  disowned ; 

My  father  was  erst  cradled  on  thy  hills, 

My  father's  father  also  with  their  kin; 

Myself  an  infant  nestled  in  the  bosom 

Of  kind  Kentucky,  eldest  daughter  thine, 

Whom  still  I  love  as  homing  me  and  mother. 

So  much  of  pride  in  pedigree  I  take 

Airing  a  word  on  my  Virginia  blood, 

Wherein  I  find  me  of  first  company. 

But  in  response  unto  thy  sorer  challenge, 

Let  me  vow  here,  on  thee  I  shall  not  war. 

Unless  thou  mak'st  alliance  with  rebellion 

And  dar  'st  assail  what  is  so  largely  thine 

By  birth  and  by  thy  mothering  care — this  Union. ' ' 

The  spectral  lips  paled  to  a  deathlier  ash, 

And  quivered  in  a  fiercer  utterance. 

Which  tuned  the  White-House  to  a  woman 's  shriek : 

"Take  back  that  Proclamation — obeymybiddance — 

Eevoke  the  call  to  arms  against  the  South, 

My  people  whom  I  come  to  represent, 

For  you  have  forced  their  cause  to  be  now  mine. 

If  not,  tomorrow  you  shall  see  me  cleave 

This  bond  of  States  into  a  thousand  fragments 

Although  it  be  of  me  the  fosterling; 

I  swear  me  here,  I  shall  dash  out  the  brains 


80    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  YI. 

Of  this  by  you  perverted  polity 

E  'en  if  it  be  the  childed  darling  of  my  heart, 

Beneath  a  mother's  curse  flung  down  to  death." 

"Whereat  applausive  echoes  from  afar 

Mumbled  as  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  President  looked  all  his  sorrow's  soul 

To  see  maternity's  demonic  spell 

Which  made  the  womb  destroyer  of  its  own. 

For  Abraham  Lincoln  loved  Virginia, 

And  longed  to  hinder  her  self-murderous  deed 

Which,  aimed  in  pride  to  hit  the  Nation's  heart, 

Most  bloodily  turned  back  upon  herself. 

But  still  the  phantom  had  more  wrath  to  voice : 

"Revoke  that  Proclamation  and  at  once! 

With  an  apology  let  it  be  done ! 

Lest  in  the  whirling  moment  I  shall  join 

The  South 's  Confederacy  newly  born,     . 

And  lead  its  heroes  to  the  battle's  test 

For  rights  assailed  which  I  now  vindicate. 

Tyrant,  to  you  I  shall  not  subject  bow 

My  neck  unyoked  to  other  sovereignty. 

Or  to  the  Nation  which  you  glorify ; 

I  am  the  Sovereign,  I  am  the  State 

And  shall  not  knee  the  earth  to  mine  own  offspring, 

Supremacy  surrender  I  shall  not. 

And  now  I  shall  again  command  as  lord. 

Giving  to  you  the  last  alternative: 

Take  back  that  call  to  war — obey  or  perish." 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  81 

Then  underneath,  the  phantom's  eerie  shriek 
Resounded  from  afar  defiant  shouts 
With  echoing  tramp  of  marching  soldiery, 
That  shook  the  land  in  shocks  of  repercussion. 

But  Lincoln  still  more  gently  toned  his  tongue 

As  he  dropped  limply  down  upon  his  seat, 

Unwilling  he  to  stand  upright  in  pride 

Even  against  the  proudest  of  the  proud: 

"So  thou,  grandmother,  art  to  dictate  now 

To  me,  the  President,  lately  arrived 

With  the  new  Nation  at  its  Capital ! 

I  am  elect  to  sway  authority, 

The  folk  has  chosen  me  to  be  its  will, 

That  choice  I  know  not  how  to  abdicate 

Though  my  dictator  may  the  wiser  be. 

Dear  gentlewoman,  well  I  ken  thy  fame, 

The  record  of  thy  worth  I  oft  have  conned, 

I  linger  over  thy  past  potencies. 

And  thrill  perusing  thy  high  history, 

Dreaming  myself  beside  thy  Presidents; 

Of  these  United  States  I  hold  thee  best, 

Hast  reared  the  greatest  men  in  war  and  peace, 

The  builders  early  of  the  Nation's  temple, 

Constructive  geniuses  of  institutions. 

Thy  glory  would  I  never  seek  to  dim, 

It  is  my  own  and  all  the  people's  too. 

Still  we  must  not  becloud  our  honor's  sheen 


82   LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

But  save  it  even  for  the  sake  of  thee. 
If  I  should  dare  obey  thy  spoken  wish, 
I  would  undo  thy  greatest,  noblest  deed." 

The  sootheing  word  was  but  an  added  brand 

To  that  hot  furnace  of  her  kindled  soul; 

The  untoward  specter  clenched  her  tiny  hand 

Her  delicate  white  hand  unused  to  toil, 

And  thrust  it  up  alongside  Lincoln's  knuckles, 

Big-boned  and  brawned,  unflinching  in  their  clutch, 

The  ready  implement  of  Westerner, 

And  telling  token  of  his  character. 

But  now  unfisted  in  their  peaceful  power, 

E'en  stretched  out  to  persuasive  gentleness. 

But  mid  an  eldritch  scream  she  smote  the  air 

With  her  soft  slender  fingers  doubled  over 

Into  a  downy  knot  caressing  hate : 

"I  care  not  for  your  mincing  flatteries, 

Not  for  your  patronizing  airs  of  office — 

Take  back  that  Proclamation — eat  your  words! 

Else  by  this  fist  they  down  your  throat  be  rammed. " 

Whereat  she  whizzed  it  round  his  dark-knit  brow, 

Yet  stopped  it  suddenly  as  if  held  back 

By  some  compunction  still  at  work  within, 

Which  tried  a  little  tilt  of  far-down  love 

Against  the  syllables  of  her  own  voice. 

Then  Lincoln  strode  to  center  of  the  room, 

And  took  position  square  before  the  ghost 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  83 

Wording  the  bubbles  of  his  upstirred  deeps : 

"Dear  Madam,  know  that  a  new  epoch  dawns 

With  throes  of  bearing  a  new  kind  of  State 

For  domination  of  the  rising  ages; 

And  now  I  come  the  representative 

Of  States  free-born  and  childed  of  the  Union 

Determined  that  this  country  hence  shall  be 

A  Nation  whole  with  its  authority. 

I  am  their  hand,  their  head,  aye  too  their  heart 

Upheaving  with  a  star-high  aspiration, 

And  tuning  to  a  music  cosmical, 

Of  which  the  upper  world  hymns  me  the  strain. 

I  never  shall  betray  their  hopes  and  mine,    ■ 

We  ask  no  more  of  thee  than  what  is  duty, 

Than  what  ourselves  perform  just  in  this  act 

Which  has  thy  scorn — submission  to  the  Nation. ' ' 

Again  there  fell  upon  his  words  a  rune 

Of  far-off  rhyming  with  reverberation, 

Whereat  he  took  a  turn  around  the  shade. 

Which  left  his  muscles  laxer  in  his  look, 

So  that  they  bended  to  a  ripple  of  his  humor: 

"We  cannot  w^holly  for  all  time  be  ruled 

By  our  good  grandams,  though  we  love  them  much ; 

We  seem  to  them  unruly  boys  at  school 

When  we  unnoosed  begin  to  rule  ourselves; 

Still  we  cannot  give  up  self-government," 

Such  a  bold  sauce-box  claiming  what  was  hers 


84   LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

The  ancient  lady  had  not  met  for  all  her  years ; 

In  wroth-red  majesty  about  the  room 

She  paced  her  footsteps,  as  if  young  again 

When  she  bore  Presidents  of  dignity 

Very  unlike  this  prairie  favorite, 

As  she  looked  on  him  with  disdain  antique. 

Writhing  her  face  to  furrowed  sneers  she  scoffed 

him: 
''Chief  magistrate  of  Western  impudence! 
A  daddy-long-legs  for  our  President ! 
Once  more,  the  last  time,  I  shall  bid  you  here 
Revoke  that  call  to  arms  against  my  South, 
Else  I  shall  cutse  you  and  depart  for  home. 
Assembled  my  convention  now  awaits  me, 
Again  and  yet  again  our  vote  has  been  to  stay 
In  this  old  crackling  edifice  of  Union 
Already  crumbling  down  upon  our  heads; 
But  only  shall  we  stay  with  this  proviso 
That  you  coerce  not  States  which  have  gone  out ; 
They  had  the  right  to  leave,  although  they  ought 
Not  to  have  left,  I  grant;  they  did  a  wrong 
Which  they,  however,  had  the  right  to  do; 
Hear  then,  unless  you  as  the  President 
Over  this  Nation,  as  you  choose  to  call  it, 
Unless  you  follow  now  my  admonition, 
I,  quitting  here  your  presence,  shall  go  back 
And  say  our  only  freedom  is  to  secede, 
Though  I  believe  not  in  secession. 


MOTHER   VIRGINIA.  85 

And  I  proclaim  my  Unionism  dies, 

Yea,  will  rise  out  its  grave  to  fight  you  here, 

If  you  shall  dare  maintain  the  Union." 

She  stepped  aback  at  hearing  her  own  speech 

As  if  she  felt  in  it  the  harsh  discordance. 

And  looked  a  protest  quite  unconsciously 

Against  herself  all  in  despite  herself. 

Lincoln  sprang  forth  and  pitched  his  voice  anew 
In  firmest  key  as  he  spake  out  his  heart: 
"So  perish  now,  the  word  and  thing,  coercion! 
That  is  the  monster  which  is  booked  to  die, 
Torn  from  its  den  within  your  consciousness — 
The  den  of  your  own  self -born  dragon's  woe. 
But  the  sore  point,  the  sorest,  you  have  touched ; 
From  your  Convention  in  the  Capital 
At  Richmond  has  been  brought  me  but  dictation. 
What  I  and  the  whole  People  have  to  do. 
Namely,  undo  their  will  as  some  great  crime. 
The  will  of  our  law's  own  majority 
Voiced  at  the  polls  last  fall  by  count  of  votes. 
So  then  defeat  must  rule  the  victory, 
The  fewer  lord  it  over  all  the  rest. 
Prescribing  what  shall  be  my  policy. 
Although  you  shake  the  rod  above  my  head 
In  spirit  of  your  haughty  domination, 
I  shall  not  yield  our  government's  own  soul 
To  petty  threat  of  any  member,  not  to  yours. 


86    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  TI. 

That  Unionism  which  subjects  the  Union 
To  its  caprice,  must  be  made  over  new 
And  I  shall  do  it — I  the  chosen  man 
For  just  that  task  now  born.    Autocracy 
Of  the  one  State,  we  shall  as  little  suffer 
As  that  of  the  one  man — king,  emperor — 
Nor  of  Dictator,  civil  or  military, 
Nay,  not  of  me,  the  President.    And  hence 
My  Proclamation  I  shall  not  recall, 
"Which  0  'er  you  crowns  the  Nation  sovereign. 
Go  out  then,  if  you  will — a  President 
I  would  not  be,  if,  ruling,  you  stay  in." 

Louder  than  ever  was  heard  the  repercussion 

Of  the  far-shouting  Folk-soul  mid  these  words; 

But  on  the  other  side  yelled  rivalry — 

Both  seemed  as  two  vast  amphitheaters 

Opposed,  of  North  and  South  from  Ocean  to  Ocean, 

And  shaken  with  a  tumult  millionfold. 

Virginia  rose  up  equal  to  her  vengeance 

And  flashed  her  speech  into  stern  Lincoln 's  face : 

"What!  I  submit  to  your  authority! 

I  yield  to  you  my  Statehood 's  primal  right 

Of  sovereignty  which  won  our  independence! 

And  crouch  before  the  Nation  which  I  made ! 

Rather  let  frantic  war  plough  up  my  soil 

With  cannon-balls  and  sow  destruction's  seed 

Till  earth  gulps  down  the  blood  of  my  best  sons ! 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  87 

Expect  them  soon,  my  armies  marching  hither 

To  bivouac  in  your  humbled  Capitol, 

Dictating  thence  the  victor's  terms  of  peace. 

How  I  shall  gloat  to  watch  yon  haughty  dome 

Enshrouded  in  my  gunnery's  wreaths  of  smoke! 

I  see  me  heading  my  brave  soldiery 

In  solid  tread  along  the  Avenue, 

To  roll  of  drum  and  martial  shout  of  triumph ; 

And  then  I  hear  me  giving  my  commands 

To  you  as  President  just  in  this  room, 

Just  here.    Again  Virginia  as  of  yore 

Shall  be  installed  the  ruler  in  this  "White-House. 

With  power  restored  and  greater  than  before 

For  she  was  born  to  have  supremacy. 

The  crown  of  first  authority  I  feel 

Grow  on  my  head  again  as  I  pass  out. ' ' 

A  little  note  of  hesitation  here 

She  gasped  as  startled  at  what  she  had  said ; 

But  not  so  soon  could  she  lay  down  her  wrath 

And  ban  her  temper's  storm  imperious 

Bursting  to  fiery  cannonade  of  speech: 

"My  Capitol  shall  not  be  citied  here 

But  soon  transferred  to  its  own  rightful  seat. 

My  high-born  Richmond  on  the  river  James; 

There  shortly  will  appear  another  "White-House 

And  in  it  a  new  President  will  dwell, 

Coming  out  of  the  farther  South  to  us, 


88    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

Your  rival,  yea  your  ruler  reared  by  war 
Which  smites  in  vengeance  for  your  Proclamation ; 
Begotten  then  will  be  the  Nation  true 
With  last  but  loftiest  place  in  History. ' ' 
And  then  she  paused  as  if  to  take  a  look 
Surprised  at  her  own  picture  of  herself. 
''Just  that  is  what  I  too  believe,"  said  Lincoln 
Thrusting  his  words  upon  the  specter's  tongue, 
Then  throbbed  a  bass-note  fateful  in  reply: 
''Farewell  this  time — it  is  enough  for  once, 
But  mark — I  shall  thee  see  again  in  Richmond. 
I  shall  be  there  e'en  as  thy  President, 
And  take  my  seat  upon  thy  chair  of  State, 
Wielding  from  thence  supreme  authority 
When  the  high  work  of  Union  is  fulfilled. 
Perchance  thou  wilt  me  then  the  honor  show 
Of  a  fresh  visit  in  thy  Capital." 

She  whispered  on  the  air  a  bodement  low 

Which  bore  the  tone  of  doomful  prophecy: 

"Whenever  humble  I  shall  come  to  you, 

And  bow  the  knee  unto  your  Union  won, 

That  is  your  Fate — your  days  are  numbered  few 

Beyond  that  moment's  mortal  sunstroke  dialed." 

The  presage  touched  to  a  responsive  thrill 

The  deepest  chord  of  Lincoln's  tense-strung  heart, 

For  he  forefelt  the  same  prophetic  throb 

Which  now  he  heard  that  ghostly  mouth  intone 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  89 

To  airy  speech,  yet  weighed  with  destiny. 

They  stood  apart  in  mute  astonishment, 

Each  eyed  the  other  with  a  glance  appalled 

In  some  deep  vision  tongueless,  overawed. 

When  both  were  ware  of  a  vast  Presence  winged 

Around,  above,  and  everywhere  at  home; 

It  seemed  to  fill  the  room,  the  house,  the  world, 

To  wield  the  lordship  over  place  and  time. 

To  ride  upon  the  ages  as  its  car 

Which  it  was  driving  to  some  far-off  goal, 

Onbearing  both  these  shapes,  Virginia's  shade 

And  the  real  Lincoln  too,  as  tiny  motes, 

Active  within  its  universal  action. 

But  see  Virginia's  still  defiant  look — 

Denying  e'en  that  Omnipresence  too 

She  turned  on  it  away  from  Lincoln,  saying 

"I  shall  not  be  coerced  by  such  a  ghost, 

Although  the  Spirit  of  the  Age  itself 

It  comes  to  me  demanding  my  submission." 

Whereat  she  scowled  at  it  her  loftiest  dare. 

Ready  to  challenge  that  supernal  Presence, 

As  if  her  harnessed  enemy  for  battle. 

But  Lincoln  took  another  attitude, 
Treating  it  as  his  friend  familiar 
Whom  he  would  cherish  in  his  heart  and  brain : 
"Spirit,  I  oft  have  glimpsed  you  here  before: 
Welcome,  take  up  with  me  your  fixed  abode — 


90   LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

For  I  would  know  your  will  above  all  else, 
And  would  consult  you  in  my  heavy  task; 
Be  mate  to  me  and  tell  me  your  decree 
Which  I  would  follow  with  true  loyalty 
And  win  the  people  also  to  your  hest, 
"When  I  may  know  it  well  enough  to  tell. ' ' 

The  Presence  darted  forth  a  spectral  hand 

And  drew  a  line  between  the  glaring  twain 

Who  face  to  face  had  taken  their  position — 

A  red-lit  line  which  neither  then  could  cross 

It  rose  dividing  the  two  Capitals, 

And  separating  North  and  South  by  fire 

Which  blazed  each  way  enwrapping  both  in  flames 

Till  it  had  wrecked  in  twain  Virginia 

Whose  voice  responsive  fell  to  broken  words 

Which  told  at  last  her  soul's  confession: 

' '  How  deeply  do  I  feel  myself  divided ! 

All  is  to  me  in  scission  and  secession ! 

Twofold  my  self,  my  people,  and  my  State! 

As  well  as  States  born  of  me  in  the  West! 

And  oh !  my  love  itself  is  cut  in  two, 

Each  side  is  warring  with  its  other  self ! 

My  sons  are  drawn  up  now  in  ranks  opposing 

And  soon  will  let  each  other's  blood  in  strife. 

See  there !  the  ensanguined  line  of  separation — 

The  Fatal  Line  dividing  me  and  mine!" 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA.  91 

Whereat  she  fleeted  off  outside  the  White-House, 
And  vanished  soon  behind  the  bound  of  fire 
Which  seemed  to  crimson  all  its  line  in  blood. 
The  greater  Presence  had  transformed  itself, 
Becoming  strangely  one  with  Lincoln's  semblance 
Just  as  he,  after  trials  numerous, 
Advanced  across  that  parting  line  aflame 
Which  slowly  drooped  to  monumental  ashes. 

And  so  Virginia  in  her  wrath  defied 

The  omnipresent  might  which  has  to  rule 

Within  the  outer  loud  occurrences 

Upseething  on  the  stream  of  history : 

Even  to  that  her  pride  disdained  submission. 

But  Lincoln  tacked  his  course  the  other  way: 

He  sought  to  know  the  Mind  which  is  the  Whole, 

Even  to  ken  the  Will  which  wills  all  Will, 

To  find  its  goal  e  'en  in  misfortune 's  blows, 

And  recognize  the  discipline  divine. 

As  guidance  to  his  deeper  work  ordained. 

So  he  would  court  the  Spirit  of  the  Time 

Communing  with  its  ghostly  Presences 

That  he  might  catch  their  tongueless  utterance, 

Whether  it  spelt  defeat  or  victory. 

This  higher  message  he  would  then  impart, 

In  his  own  way  of  wording  what  he  saw, 

In  spoken  speech  or  written  document. 

Unto  the  folk  who  had  to  know  it  too, 


92    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VI. 

Whose  mighty  travail  was  to  turn  to  fact 
The  mandates  of  that  Upper  Cabinet. 

The  weird  appearances,  now  turned  to  air, 
Had  left  on  Lincoln 's  mood  a  mighty  oracle : 
"Was  it  a  dream  or  brain-born  fantasy, 
Though  pressing  solid  as  reality? 
An  overworld  of  forms  descended  on  him, 
And  played  some  mimic  prelude  of  a  drama — 
A  scene  of  disembodied  characters, 
Hoar  phantoms  pre-enacting  great  events. 
And  still  through  all  his  sun-born  imagery 
Would  stray  a  streak  of  doubt  clouded  as  night. 
Passing  to  melancholy  nothingness. 
At  last  his  thought  forced  out  this  utterance : 
"So  then  we  are  to  have  two  Capitals 
And  two  White-Houses  on  two  rivers  built, 
Each  glaring  at  the  other  from  their  perch, 
Within  their  walls  two  hostile  Presidents — 
How  that  division  twinges  me  to  horror! 
And  yet  the  deeper  darker  doubleness 
Cuts  the  two  Peoples  at  the  blood-red  line! 
That  line  is  what  my  task  is  to  erase 
Completely  and  forever — I  hear  the  call." 
Again  flowed  in  upon  his  strong-willed  words 
A  far-off  shout  as  of  the  Folk  itself 
Between  the  seas  upon  the  East  and  West 
Responsive  in  a  chorus  to  his  thoughts. 


MOTHER   VIRGINIA.  93 

Wlien  the  strong-voiced  rebound  had  died  away 

Into  the  distant  wilderness  of  sounds, 

Lincoln  began  to  hear  his  soul's  own  echo 

Foretokening  his  destiny  in  words: 

"Between  myself  and  thee,  Virginia, 

This  combat  of  our  Folk  divided  writhes 

As  if  between  two  personalities. 

I  cast  that  I  shall  have  to  go  myself 

From  here  down  to  your  second  Capital, 

And  therein  take  my  Presidential  seat 

If  I  now  heal  this  fevered  dualism 

Which  rages  in  the  Nation,  State,  and  Soul. 

But  when  I  come  to  thee,  Virginia, 

Thou  also  shalt  enfranchised  be; 

I  say  it  here  unto  myself  foresaid: 

When  I  return  to  my  grandfather's  State 

Which  storied  lies  from  childhood  in  my  heart, 

And  take  my  seat  within  her  Capital, 

She  shall  be  new-born  of  the  Union  free, 

Rejuvenated  in  her  liberty. 

And  though  my  doom  be  there  suspended  o'er  me, 

As  thou  dost  threat  in  frenzy  sybilline. 

Whereto  my  own  prophetic  soul  nods  yea, 

So  let  it  fall,  I  cannot  stay  its  scope. 

And  then  I  shall  revoke  this  Proclamation 

When  it  revokes  itself  in  its  own  triumph. 

This  call,  I  say,  will  then  recall  itself, 

Undone  by  its  fulfilment,  0  Virginia." 


i0ah  Stkrttl^. 


Lee  and  Thomas. 

Lee. 

I  am  glad  to  see  you,  fellow  Virginian  and  old 
comrade  in  arms.  Welcome  to  Arlington,  Colonel 
Thomas.  You  are  now  commander  of  the  Second 
Cavalry. 

TJiomas. 

My  heart  responds  to  your  courtesy  with  quicker 
beats,  my  honored  chief.  But  yours  is  a  strange 
salute.  I  have  just  come  from  Carlile  Barracks  to 
confer  with  you  as  my  official  superior.  How  de- 
lightful are  these  grounds  and  their  mansion  em- 
bosomed in  the  trees  whose  tops  are  now  throb- 
bing out  in  a  kind  of  smile  the  first  leaves  of  April 
green !  And  some  early  flowers  of  spring  twinkled 
at  me  on  my  way  hither.  Still  I  confess  that  I 
(94) 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  95 

appear  before  you  oppressed  and  sorrowed  by  the 
clouds  hanging  over  our  country,  and  therewith 
over  our  Virginia.  But  tell  me,  why  do  you  greet 
me  with  a  military  title  which  is  not  mine  but 
yours  ? 

Lee. 
It  is  no  longer  mine.  I  have  resigned  the  Colo- 
nelcy of  the  First  Cavalry,  and  you  are  the  rank- 
ing officer  of  your  regiment.  I  cannot  take  part 
in  any  invasion  of  the  South,  whose  rights  are  now 
assailed  by  President  Lincoln's  call  for  troops. 
And  I  tell  you,  Virginia  will  not  permit  any  such 
assault  upon  her  Southern  sisters.  And  yet  I  do 
not  think  that  they  have  done  right — South  Car- 
olina has  acted  very  precipitately,  as  if  she  would 
provoke  the  issue  of  arms. 

Thomas. 
I  see  that  you  are  in  a  battle  with  yourself.  So 
am  I,  or  rather  have  been.  But  what  about  this 
rumor  which  I  heard  as  I  passed  through  Wash- 
ington? It  was  reported  that  you  were  to  take 
command  of  the  Union  army;  I  come  to  offer  you 
my  help,  or  at  least  my  good  wishes. 

Lee. 
Let  me  state  you  the  main  fact.     A  messenger, 
old  Mr.  Blair,  brought  to  me  the  offer  of  some  such 


96       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VII. 

position  from  the  President,  as  I  understood  the 
matter.  And  I  believe  that  General  Scott,  who 
thinks  well  of  my  abilities,  had  thrown  out  a  sim- 
ilar intimation.  To  be  sure,  Mr.  Blair  is  very  sly 
and  not  altogether  open  in  his  use  of  words.  I 
felt  that  he  was  sounding  me,  and  so  I  gave  him 
the  bluff  refusal  of  the  soldier.  I  could  not  yield 
my  honest  service  to  carry  out  the  President's 
Proclamation,  which  grated  the  tenderest  chords 
of  my  soul.  And  my  State  to  whom  I  owe  my  last 
allegiance  is  sure  to  be  involved.  And  you,  you 
too  are  a  Virginian. 

TJiomas. 

Undoubtedly.     I  love  the  good  old  mother,  but 
also  love  her  greater  child,  the  Nation. 

Lee. 
I  have  felt  the  same  double  heart-beat,  but  al- 
ways in  unison  hitherto.  But  now  the  two  beats 
strike  counter  so  as  to  make  unhappy  discord 
within  me.  Two  supreme  events  have  taken  place 
which  jar  me  almost  out  of  existence:  the  bom- 
bardment of  Fort  Sumter  and  Lincoln's  call  to 
violence  in  response.  Both  are  unnecessary  and 
extremes;  the  one  assails  the  Union  in  which  I  be- 
lieve and  the  other  assails  the  State  in  which  I 
believe.  I  am  rent  in  twain  by  the  two  conflicting 
sides,  for  both  are  mine,  inwound  in  my  memories 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  97 

and  hopes;  my  examplar  and  my  relative,  George 
Washington,  they  tear  to  pieces;  and  my  own 
father,  Light-Horse  Harry  as  he  is  best  known, 
lies  bleeding  with  this  mortal  wound  before  me. 
My  ancestry  is  cleft  in  the  middle,  so  are  all  the 
great  Virginians  of  history,  who  seem  to  groan  in 
me  with  the  throes  of  the  present  strife. 

Thomas. 

I  understand  your  feeling,  for  I  have  shared 
in  it.  I  often  ask  myself  what  underlies  this 
mighty  turmoil,  this  wrench  of  the  spirit  every- 
where. Something  must  be  coming  out  of  it,  per- 
haps a  new  order;  at  least  it  cannot  all  be  for 
nothing.     But  what? 

Lee. 

If  I  had  the  four  million  slaves,  I  would  give 
them  all  for  the  Union. 

Thomas. 

So  would  I.  And  if  war  comes,  I  believe  that 
the  Union  will  have  to  pay  that  price  and  probably 
a  greater.  If  it  is  to  be  kept,  it  must  have  a  new 
valuation. 

Lee. 
I  never  did  believe  in  slavery,  nor  did  the  great 
Virginians  of  the  past. 


98       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  TIL 

Thomas. 
Nor  do  I.  Still  neither  they  nor  we  ever  sum- 
moned our  full  strength  to  abolish  it,  and  make 
valid  our  conviction.  And  it  is  certainly  the  source 
of  the  present  split  between  North  and  South — 
the  alien  wedge  prying  apart  the  Union. 

Lee. 
But  that  late  Proclamation  assails  the  right  of 
the  State. 

Thomas. 

But  it  asserts  preponderantly  the  right  of  the 
Union. 

Lee. 

Oh  the  pitiless  time  which  forces  me  to  choose 
the  one  or  the  other!  Still  for  me  the  State  is 
first  and  formed  the  Union. 

Thomas. 
Yes,  the  choice  has  to  be  made  by  every  man — 
such  is  the  age's  behest.    But  for  me  the  Union  is 
first  and  forms  the  State. 

Lee. 
I  see  that  you  agree  with  Lincoln,  but  I  must 
face  the  other  way. 

Thomas. 

You  will  soon  have  to  start.  Here  is  the  news- 
paper with  big  headlines  on  the  first  page.     Vir- 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  99 

ginia  secedes.     The  dividing  line   is   grooved   al- 
ready. 

Lee. 
I  have  been  expecting  it — the  Richmond  Con- 
vention said  as  much  to  Lincoln.  Virginia  could 
not  do  otherwise.  I  shall  draw  my  sword  only  in 
defence  of  my  native  State — so  I  have  resigned 
from  the  national  army. 

Thomas. 

I  shall  not  resign — I  cannot — I  shall  draw  my 
sword  for  the  Union. 

Lee. 

Pardon  me,  my  fellow-soldier,  but  I  do  not  un- 
derstand how  a  Virginian  can  take  that  course 
against  all  that  he  holds  dear. 

Thomas. 

Permit  me  to  say  to  you,  my  old  commander, 
that  there  are  two  Virginias,  mutually  antag- 
onistic, each  now  wrestling  with  the  other.  I  see 
them  both  in  you,  your  talk  has  uttered  both;  I 
know  that  both  are  in  me,  and  have  had  quite  a 
struggle;  both  even  show  themselves  outwardly 
in  the  State's  territory.  I  behold  Virginia  (and 
the  whole  South  with  her)  at  the  cross-roads  of 
her  destiny;  one  way  she  turns  back  and  reverts 
to  the  old  colonial  separation;  the  other  way  she 


100     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VII. 

reaches  forward  to  the  new  federation  which  is 
not  to  be  stopped  till  it  circles  the  earth. 

Lee. 

Indeed!  I  never  dreamed  of  your  being  such 
a  dreamer.  Our  hard-headed  spare-worded  Major 
Thomas  has  become  such  an  enthusiast !  Still, 
coming  down  to  the  bald  fact,  I  say  that  the  States 
made  the  Union  and  existed  before  it — so  they 
are  the  first  creatively. 

Thomas. 

That  is  true  of  the  old  Thirteen,  Virginia  in- 
cluded— but  just  the  opposite  holds  true  of  the  new 
Twenty  States  of  the  West — the  Union  made 
them,  and  they  are  now  the  decided  majority — so 
the  Union  at  present  is  the  first  creatively.  Just 
that  is  what  is  next  to  be  wrought  out,  and  per- 
chance to  be  fought  out;  in  fact  here  lies  the  real 
meaning  of  the  trouble,  and  the  direction  of  its 
final  settlement. 

Lee. 

I  confess  that  I  did  not  altogether  like  the  spirit 
of  the  "West  with  its  upstarts,  of  whom  I  learned 
when  stationed  at  St.  Louis  some  years  ago.  The 
old  Dominion  with  its  long-descended  heirlooms 
is  more  congenial  to  me.  I  shall  not  fight  against 
my  ancestral  friends,  my  kindred,  my  traditions, 
my  State. 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  IQl 

TJiomas. 

In  that  lies  the  test.  I  too  love  friends,  rela- 
tives, Virginia,  the  past.  But  my  final  allegiance 
is  to  the  future  with  its  higher  goal.  I  have  had 
the  bitter  struggle  to  give  up  what  you  will  keep — 
I  dare  immolate  old  associations,  friendships,  con- 
sanguinities, my  native  State,  for  a  greater  cause, 
though  all  my  relatives  and  companions  and  even 
Mother  Virginia  herself  disown  me.  Still  I  grant 
that  I  have  a  rent  inside  me  which  makes  me  bleed, 
but  which  I  shall  bear  around  with  me  in  silence. 
For  my  relief  I  must  quit  the  presence  of  the  con- 
tending forces  here  in  the  East. 

Lee. 
There  will  be  a  mortal  grapple.    My  last  news  is 
that  Virginia  will  follow  up  secession  by  uniting 
with  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

Thomas. 

That  forecasts  a  long  war  just  at  the  gates  of 
Washington. 

Lee. 

President  Davis  will  be  accepted  by  Virginia 
and  bring  his  Capital  to  Richmond. 

Tliomas. 
Then  will  open  the  desperate  combat  between 
the  two  Capitals  hardly  a  hundred  miles  apart. 


102     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VII. 

Lee. 

Governor  Letcher  has  already  sent  me  intima- 
tions to  come  to  Eichmond  and  take  charge  of  the 
military  arm  of  the  State.  I  judge  you  do  not  care 
to  go  along, 

Thomas. 

By  no  means.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  stay  here 
where  I  shall  see  Virginia  cleft  asunder,  her  peo- 
ple divided,  her  State  ripped  through,  while  I  am 
torn  within  by  her  agony.  Besides  I  would  not 
like  to  be  arrayed-  in  battle-line  against  you,  my 
old  Colonel,  friend,  Virginian.  I  shall  flee  as  soon 
as  possible  to  the  West,  where  there  is  no  such 
chasm  as  here,  or  only  in  the  distance.  Though  I 
be  driven  from  the  State,  I  shall  not  be  driven 
from  the  Union. 

Lee. 

Here  the  States  will  subordinate  the  Union,  and 
assert  their  own  independent  right  of  existence. 

Thomas. 
There  the  Union  will  subordinate  the  States — 
even  the  old  ones.  Besides  I  may  frankly  tell 
you  that  here  on  the  Atlantic  coast  nothing  can 
be  settled;  the  decisive  work  in  this  conflict  must 
be  done  in  the  "West,  by  the  young  vigorous  chil- 
dren of  the  Union,  not  in  the  East  by  the  good  old, 
but   somewhat   backward,   parents   of   the   Union. 


LEE  AND  THOMAS,  103 

Thither  I  shall  go  and  take  my  part  in  the  great 
national  deed  which  I  believe  is  to  be  done  out 
there,  where  the  line  of  separation  in  the  Union 
is  weak  and  can  be  more  easily  crossed.  Here  it 
is  strong,  perhaps  too  strong  for  me — I  can  feel 
it  drawn  in  myself,  I  must  flee  from  it;  if  I  stay 
here  in  Virginia,  I  could  fear  myself.  You  say 
you  did  not  like  that  rough-and-ready  Western 
folk  which  we  knew  at  Jefferson  Barracks  and 
elsewhere;  I  grew  fond  of  it  and  learned  from  it 
much,  for  example  to  face  about  from  East  to 
West,  even  from  Virginia  toward  the  Rockies. 
And  I  was  fascinated  by  the  Mississippi  with  its 
tossing  turbulent  independence,  which  seems  to 
repel  you,  and  which  you,  as  an  engineer,  sought 
to  curb  and  direct  with  success.  I  tell  you,  there 
lies  the  new  hope. 

Lee. 
Call  me  an  old  colonial,  if  you  will,  even  a  rebel 
— so  was  George  Washington,  who,  you  know,  is 
in  our  family  tree — a  Virginia  gentleman  true- 
bred.  And  your  Western  Lincoln  has  small  at- 
traction for  me ;  his  blood  is,  I  hear,  of  our  South- 
ern white  trash — he  is  yonder  in  the  White-House 
I  suppose — I  slipped  away  from  the  city  rather 
than  see  him.  I  could  not  endure  the  contrast — 
it  makes  my  heart  ache.  How  different  from  our 
old  Virginia  line  of  Presidents ! 


104     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  YII. 

Thomas. 

But  Lincoln  also  traces  his  descent  from  Vir- 
ginia ancestors  of  Revolutionary  stock.  Therein 
at  least  he  is  like  you  and  me.  The  difference  is 
that  he  was  baptized  in  the  spirit  of  the  West,  and 
is  a  child  of  the  great  migration  from  the  old  to 
the  new.  Let  me  tell  you  something  else:  there 
are  more  Virginians  and  sons  of  Virginians  in 
those  young  "Western  States  than  here  in  old  Vir- 
ginia herself.  They  have  dared  break  ancient  ties 
and  start  a  new  life  of  their  own.  And  I  should 
not  wonder  if  they  would  be  coming  back  this  way 
some  time.  Lincoln,  their  representative,  is  al- 
ready here,  and  in  the  seat  of  your  old  Virginia 
Presidents,  whom  we  all  honor.  And  it  would 
seem  that  he  is  only  the  forerunner  of  some  great 
movement  hitherward. 

Lee. 

As  for  me,  I  shall  stay  here  on  the  sacred  soil 
of  my  State,  living  and  dying  for  it  if  need  -be.  I 
wish  not  to  be  free  of  its  domestic,  social,  and 
political  chains,  as  you  deem  them. 

Thomas. 

Strong  and  beautiful  are  the  ties  of  family,  of 
community,  of  State — who  can  escape  their  subtle 
bonds?  Yet  a  new  test  has  arisen  in  the  World's 
History,   to   be   applied   first   here   to   us — a  new 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  105 

judgment-day  is  at  hand,  I  would  almost  dare  say 
that  I  hear  its  trump ;  we,  even  we  two,  are  to  be 
summoned  before  a  new  tribunal  and  tried  by  our 
attitude  toward  the  Nation — not  toward  the  State, 
the  city,  or  our  kindred,  though  these  be  dearest 
to  us  in  our  feelings.    Can  we  rise  to  that? 

Lee. 
I  cannot  and  will  not. 

Thomas. 
Then,  whatever  be  your  personal  character — 
and  I  know  it  to  be  tender-conscienced,  of  noble 
honor,  and  deeply  religious — you  will  stand  con- 
demned as  in  the  wrong  before  the  High  Court  of 
the  Ages,  whose  behest  I  have  to  obey. 

Lee. 
Here  comes  a  messenger,  I  am  summoned  to  go 
at  once  to  Richmond. 

Thomas. 

And  I  shall  return  to  the  Capital. 

Lee. 
You  see  that  I  have  laid  aside  my  blue  uniform, 
never  to  be  resumed. 

Thomas. 

You  may  observe  that  I  have  come  in  a  new  suit 
whose  color  I  shall  never  change. 


106     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  H0U8E—B00K  VII. 

Lee. 
I  repeat  that  I  do  not  like  slavery  or  secession. 

Thomas. 

I  know  it.  Still  I  fear  that  you  will  soon  be 
fighting  for  both.  And  just  that  is  Virginia's 
tragedy  and  yours:  smiting  Union  and  Constitu- 
tion in  which  you  believe  and  defending  with  your 
blood  slavery  and  secession  in  which  you  disbe- 
lieve. All  History  furnishes  no  more  crushing 
Mill  of  the  Gods.  You  are  caught  between  the 
upper  and  nether  jaws  of  Fate  itself.  I  must  flee 
the  awful  spectacle.  Let  me  catch  a  breath  of  air 
under  the  high-pillared  verandah  of  Arlington — 
yet  it  too  seems  fated. 

Lee. 
I  must  be  off  Southward  by  the  coming  train. 

Thomas. 
And  I  go  in  the  other  direction.  Two  Virginias 
I  see  in  us,  of  equal  honor,  conscience,  character, 
devotion  to  principle  yet  determined  to  let  each 
other's  blood.  What  is  above  this  mortal  strife, 
controlling  it,  directing  it,  to  what  end? 

Lee. 
I  leave  that  wholly  to  Providence  and  do  not 
ask  Him  any  questions.     I  believe  that  He  grows 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  107 

impatient  with  too  much  interrogation.  But  be- 
fore we  part  I  shall  tell  you  something  else  which 
will  not  out  of  my  mind.  Your  decision  will  bring 
you  your  trouble.  As  a  Virginian  you  cannot  help 
being  suspected  by  your  superiors,  even  if  you  say 
nothing. 

TJiomas. 
I  know  it  well,  and  have  already  had  the  ex- 
perience of  such  suspicion  in  high  quarters.  That 
is  another  reason  why  I  would  quit  this  locality 
and  plunge  into  the  West,  where,  however,  I  may 
not  wholly  escape.  Yes,  I  too  on  my  side  shall  have 
a  strain  of  Virginia's  tragedy  in  my  own  career. 
For  her  disloyalty — so  I  hold  her  act — will  cast  its 
shadow  upon  my  loyalty,  and  make  me  suffer.  But 
I  shall  remain  faithful  and  defy  envy  and  suspi- 
cion. My  allegiance  will  be  doubted  when  I  have 
sacrificed  everything  for  it;  still  I  shall  stay  true, 
for  loyalty  is  ever  loyal,  and  cannot  be  made  to 
turn  its  back  on  itself  by  ill  treatment  of  friends, 
or  by  blandishments  of  foes.  Union  cannot  drive 
me  to  disunion  by  any  neglect  it  may  visit  upon 
me,  and  disunion  cannot  win  me  by  any  honor  it 
may  offer.  I  am  a  free  man  and  propose  to  remain 
such,  following  inner  conviction  which  is  not  to 
be  swerved  from  the  outside  by  personal  favor  or 
disfavor. 


108     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VII. 

Lee. 
I  feel  quite  the  same  way,  but  on  the  other  side. 

Thomas. 
Yes  we  stand  on  the  two  opposite  shores  of  Vir- 
ginia's chasm,  which  is  also  that  of  the  present 
Union  and  its  people. 

Lee. 
The  bottom  cannot  be  seen,  but  I  must  separate. 

Thomas. 
May  you  survive  the  conflict. 

Lee. 
May  you  survive  the  conflict.    Farewell. 

Thomas. 
(Alone.)  And  so  I  pass  from  Arlington  which 
in  my  vision  changes  to  the  seat  of  Fate  itself.  Be- 
hold these  pleasant  trees  fluttering  in  the  tender 
winds  of  spring,  these  flower-beds  with  many-col- 
ored laughter  in  the  sunshine,  this  noble  mansion 
with  its  front  of  joyous  columns  looking  from  the 
bluff  across  the  river  at  the  towering  Capitol,  and 
even  at  the  White-House  of  the  President !  But 
look  again !  What  an  awful  metamorphosis  as 
Lee  is  passing  out  for  Richmond!  The  fair  Vir- 
ginia landscape  transmutes  itself  to  horrible  Gol- 
gotha, the  place  of  dead  men's  skulls;  even  the 


LEE  AND  THOMAS.  109 

flowering  earth  spirts  up  to  inflorescence  bloom- 
ing human  blood.  The  soldier  used  to  carnage, 
must  needs  sicken  at  the  sight  and  turn  away. 
What  a  relief  to  see  yon  Capitol  still  the  same  on 
its  foundations  firm !  Yet  it  seems  to  me  to  nod 
and  shake  its  head  in  warning  to  Arlington,  and  to 
Virginia,  my  own  dear  State.  As  I  look  around 
again,  the  horrible  phantasm  still  pursues  me — 
here  the  tragedy  will  enact  itself. 

I  must  quit  this  scene  and  pass  to  the  river- 
valley  of  the  Nation.  Now  I  behold  the  White- 
House  in  the  distance ;  a  funeral  pall  floats  over  it, 
yet  leaves  it  intact — what  does  this  all  portend  1  I 
know  not,  but  my  foreboding  soul  hints  me  that 
the  Union  itself  is  tragic  on  this  side  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  bids  me  cross  them  to  my  higher  des- 
tiny. But  look  at  it  again  ere  it  passes  out  of 
view — beautiful  but  fated  Arlington,  like  its 
owner,  like  Virginia !  That  rift  is  in  me  too,  I 
feel  it  tearing  my  heart  in  spite  of  me !  Here  runs 
the  Potomac,  let  me  put  its  flow  quickly  between 
me  and  Arlington — and  oh!  Virginia.  Brain- 
cleaving  in  this  step  of  severance  but  I  must  take 
it!  There,  'tis  done,  never  to  return  to  old  Vir- 
ginia, but  perchance  to  new!  Still  oh  my  mother, 
this  pain  of  separation  from  thee  slays  me — saves 
me! 


100k  ^igl^tl^* 


The  First  Tragedy. 

"The  time  is  a  volcano  charged  with  chaos 
And  in  its  crater  we  are  living  now, 
As  we  sit  here  in  dark  expectancy; 
I  feel  the  primal  molten  elements 
Of  human  passions  long  inherited 
To  be  aglow  and  seething  underneath 
This  house,  this  city,  this  whole  land ; 
And  all  the  world  turns  to  the  pit  infernal 
Peopled  with  fiends,  minded  on  deviltry. 
Wearing  the  mask  still  of  humanity." 

So  spake  "Ward  Lamon  in  an  outburst  fierce 
Sprung  of  his  office ;  then  he  added  this : 
(110) 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  m 

"The  mischief  swirls  around  our  President, 

And  follows  him  wherever  he  may  turn, 

As  centered  in  a  hurricane  of  hell. 

My  duty  is  to  trace  dark  passages 

Of  treason  and  of  covered  villany, 

And  nip  them  ere  they  ripen  into  blood. 

Even  to-day  I  ran  upon  a  trail 

Of  plotted  crime  which  seems  to  ramify 

Northward  as  well  as  Southward,  on  sea  and  land, 

Till  I  am  lost  in  mazes  of  this  task 

And  feel  within  my  heart  a  brood  demonic 

Both  gnawing  me  and  clawing  me  at  once 

With  teeth  and  talons  of  the  Harpy  worry." 

So  Lamon,  Marshal  of  the  Capital, 
Turned  loose  his  harried  soul  to  ease  itself 
In  speech  to  Ellsworth,  the  young  officer, 
Friend  known  in  Illinois,  now  the  commander 
Of  Fire-Zouaves,  a  flaming  regiment 
Whose  character  was  tokened  by  its  name,. 
Which  he  had  quickly  disciplined  for  war, 
And  brought  to  the  defense  of  Washington, 
Full  of  the  love  of  country  in  his  heart, 
Yet  full  of  fate  in  his  presentiment. 
They  both  sat  lone  and  darkling  in  a  room 
Where  Lamon  had  his  suite  of  offices, 
Both  weighted  with  the  rash  events  transpiring 
And  to  transpire  in  mighty  sequence  still, 


112     LIXCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Wrenching  each  soul  from  anchorage  of  hope. 

Virginia  has  seceded,  soon  the  second  tier 

Of  Southern  States  will  follow  her  example, 

And  the  third  tier,  the  border  commonwealths, 

Were  swaying  to  and  fro,  uncertain  where 

To  drop  their  future  in  the  lowering  storm. 

The  Nation's  heart  was  palpitating  loud 

In  beats  of  doubt  to  which  each  man  responded, 

And  dreadlier  those  in  authority 

Which  concentrated  at  the  Capital. 

Lamon  well  watched  the  secret  vengeances 

Of  foes  tense  with  the  passions  of  the  hour; 

He  marked  in  many  too  the  quivering  line 

Of  loyalty  at  sea,  like  a  tossed  ship 

Still  to  be  brought  to  port  and  firmly  moored. 

The  Marshal's  thought,  tuned  to  the  half-lit  gloom 

Which  flung  its  mood  upon  the  air  they  breathed 

Relaxed  to  reminiscence  with  his  friend 

From  a  dread  anxious  day  whose  toil  closed  not: 

"Our  Lincoln  is  the  center  of  the  Nation, 
Yea  more,  the  center  of  the  world  just  now 
As  this  takes  a  new  step  in  History 
Which  through  its  mortal  instruments  strides  on- 
ward. 
Most  difficult  position  ever  held 
By  the  Great  Man  at  turning  point  of  ages 
Is  his,  when  God  himself  seems  out  of  joint, 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  113 

And  all  creation  will  undo  itself 
And  strives  to  be  again  the  uncreated, 
As  if  the  cosmos  strove  to  chaos  back. 
Lincoln — will  he  rise  equal  to  his  task, 
And  stay  the  universal  cataclysm? 
Mistakes  in  human  course  he  has  to  make. 
But  just  through  them  will  he  be  fortified 
To  mount  up  to  the  new  recovery? 
Limits  he  has — can  he  first  see  himself 
Amiss,  and  then  be  quick  to  rectify 
The  lesser  man  to  fresh  transcendency? 
The  self-corrective  soul  must  be  his  own 
Ere  he  be  able  to  correct  his  time 
Or  bring  it  to  correct  itself  like  him. 
In  error's  school,  will  he  be  aptest  scholar? 
So  I  forecast,  though  tremblingly,  the  man." 

The  Marshal  wheeled  about  upon  his  chair 

As  giving  a  new  turn  to  his  reflections: 

''That  Proclamation  still  is  ringing  out 

Upon  the  air  the  words  of  a  new  order 

The  militant  trumpet  of  the  rising  Nation — 

Has  he  the  stuff  to  make  the  promise  good? 

War  will  begin — a  long  and  desperate — 

"Virginia  gone !  How  his  task  dizzies  me ! 

More  still  to  go !  The  earth  cracks  underneath  him ! 

Man  seems  dissolving  in  this  dissolution! 

And  he  to  stop  that  elemental  gulf 


11 4.     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

"Whose  yawn  keeps  deepening  down  to  ancient  night 
And  lets  the  demons  out  of  Hell  escape ! ' ' 

Then  rising  to  his  feet  broke  out  his  friend 

Young  Ellsworth,  champion  of  forms  blue-coated, 

Touching  instinctively  his  sword 's  bright  hilt : 

"My  regiment  shall  be  the  first  to  cross 

Yonder  Potomac  in  steady  line  of  march, 

With  serried  ranks  of  gleaming  baj^onets 

Fixed  for  the  charge  upon  the  enemy. 

I  at  its  head  shall  trample  on  the  soil 

Of  the  proud  State  which  will  be  sovereign 

And  dare  defiance  to  the  Union. 

My  task  allotted  is  just  that,  I  know, 

I  must  go  first,  though  I  be  first  to  fall ; 

I  shall  myself  haul  down  rebellion's  flag. 

Then  wrap  me  in  the  wreath  of  Stars  and  Stripes 

Though  it  be  reddened  in  mine  own  heart's  blood; 

T  care  not,  if  I  only  may  do  that." 

Lamon  had  hardly  marked  the  resolution. 
Touched  with  a  bodeful  gleam  of  coming  hap 
In  the  youth's  words  enforced  by  look  and  gesture, 
"When  he  again  tapped  what  was  inwards  surging : 
"What    mighty    shocks    have    we    been    passing 

through ! 
The  boom  of  Charleston's  cannon  made  us  quake 
In  every  blood-drop;  then  the  counter  clap. 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  115 

The  Presidential  call  for  soldiery, 

Fell  on  our  peace  with  a  still  mightier  roar 

Re-echoed  from  Virginia's  ordinance 

Which  tore  her  from  us  with  a  shock  like  doom; 

Our  planet  seems  now  rocking  to  and  fro 

In  some  vast  cosmical  convulsion 

On  which  this  little  earth  is  tossing  like  a  bubble. 

No  one  can  tell  what  comet  next  may  strike  us 

Madly  dashing  from  spaces  infinite ! ' ' 

The  Marshal  roused  by  his  upheaving  thoughts, 

Still  more  by  his  own  elemental  speech 

Eeverberating  thunderous  on  the  air, 

Sprang  up  and  clutched  with  frantic  grip, 

As  if  he  would  arrest  the  age  itself. 

Haling  it  to  prison  for  its  turbulence. 

Then  he  bethought  himself  of  moderation. 

And  buttoned  up  his  uniform  to  quiet. 

Linking  again  his  chain  of  memories : 

''You  recollect  the  day  with  clouds  o'ercast 

And  lowering  presentiments  within  us 

Of  what  might  him  befall  the  journey  hither, 

When  we  with  Lincoln  started  out  of  Springfield. 

You  stood  beside  me  as  he  said  farewell 

Unto  the  citizens  assembled  there. 

With  overflow  of  melancholy  words 

In  which  there  lurked  a  doubt  of  his  return. 

I  noticed  that  you  gave  a  bodeful  twinge 


116     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  Till. 

Just  at  that  point  of  his  soul's  dark  foretoken 

Which  waked  in  you  a  thrilling  sympathy, 

As  if  the  bolt  smote  you  to  hot  response." 

The  youth  in  softened  mood  gave  slowly  answer: 

'^I  still  must  shiver  in  that  memory 

Which  I  bear  with  my  sword  from  day  to  day, 

Lurking  beneath  all  this  parade  of  war. 

Let  me  confess,  that  was  what  brought  me  here, 

To  rid  me  of  the  presence  of  that  hour 

Which  seems  again  approaching  stealthily, 

But  with  fate's  prophecy  born  into  fact. 

Tell  me  the  story  of  your  coming  hither, 

It  brings  relief  to  hear  of  you  and  Lincoln. ' ' 

The  Marshal  saw  the  shadow  on  the  youth 
Cast  from  his  love  of  the  good  President, 
Of  whom  he  then  began  to  anecdote : 
"Some  weeks  before  he  was  to  quit  his  home 
Lincoln  had  spoken  to  me,  unwilling  me. 
About  some  office  at  the  Capital, 
In  tones  which  weakened  me  of  all  resistance : 
'Lamon,  it  looks  as  if  there  is  to  be 
A  fight,  and  I  shall  have  to  take  my  part ; 
I  need  your  personal  help,  such  as  you  oft 
Have  shown,  now  more  than  ever  in  the  past; 
Start  with  me  when  I  start,  and  you  must  stay 
As  long  as  I  do  in  the  Capital, 
I  shall  provide  you  opportunity; 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  II7 

But  you  must  bring  me  back,  alive  or  dead, 
Perchance  the  latter,  for  I  have  presages, 
You  know  them  well,  of  doomful  violence.' 
He  quivered  out  his  sympathetic  tones 
As  if  he  voiced  in  pity  his  own  destiny. 
And  sighed  compassion  with  his  warring  self. 
I  swayed  a  moment  in  his  fateful  words 
Surprised,  but  rallied  soon  to  give  excuse 
Of  other  tasks  begun  or  in  the  promise. 
Says  he:  'This  is  your  most  important  turn. 
The  clock  is  ticking  now  your  life's  best  chance. 
You  will  become  a  cog  of  that  huge  wheel 
Of  History  now  starting  to  revolve 
More  rapidly  than  ever  it  has  done 
Before  in  all  the  whirl  of  Time's  events.' 
'Another  person  better  for  that  place 
May  soon  be  found,  or  is  already  there,' 
I  said  not  relishing  the  sort  of  work. 
'No  Lamon,  I  cannot,'  he  answered  me 
In  a  persuasive  tremble  of  the  lip, 
'Besides,  I  have  not  time  to  hunt  him  up. 
Nor  do  I  even  know  where  I  might  look, 
And  the  emergency  now  thrusts  me  on. 
More  than  a  dozen  years  you  have  been  known 
To  me  as  friend,  as  partner  in  the  law; 
You  have  an  inborn  way  of  seeing  down 
Into  the  souls  of  men,  of  guilty  men 
Especially,  and  spying  their  designs 


118     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

And  their  disguises  multifarious. 

My  path  on  both  sides  with  such  characters 

Is  lined,  their  gauntlet  I  must  run  for  life, 

Yet  scarce  mistrust  their  evil  purposes; 

Suspicion  I  dislike  as  Hell  itself. 

That  awful  burden  you  can  take  from  me. 

For  it  sits  easefully  upon  your  back 

As  I  have  often  noticed  at  the  bar, 

When  we  were  dealing  with  the  criminal. 

Besides  you  are  a  Southerner  by  birth, 

Aye,  the  Virginian  needed,  for  you  know 

Your  people  well,  especially  the  rogues, 

If  I  may  praise  your  talent  to  your  face. ' 

I  answered  with  mine  own  his  gentle  smile: 

'That  flattery  will  hardly  spoil  me,  friend. 

Or  charm  me  to  an  office-seeker's  lot.' 

He  drooped  his  eyes  on  me  affectionate 

"With  their  sad  pleading  power,  yet  strong  command. 

Which  bade  persuasive  like  the  word  of  conscience : 

'Lamon,  for  me  you  show  a  deeper  quality 
Which  reaches  to  the  bottom  of  my  nature. 
And  sets  to  flow  the  source  of  my  existence 
Afresh;  you  have  a  personal  consecration 
Which  can  commune  with  me  at  the  origin. 
And  almost  re-create  me  young  again; 
I  need  j^ou  as  a  soul  to  whom  my  soul 
I  can  impart  when  it  will  not  hold  in 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  jjg 

But  strains  to  burst  its  bounds  to  death  itself 

And  so  be  free  of  all  its  anguishes. 

To  you  I  may  tell  things  not  told  by  me 

To  anybody  else — the  secrets  of  my  being, 

Aye,  those  first  nodes  where  I  seem  joined  to  God. 

Many  you  know  already  but  not  all, 

I  deem  I  do  not  know  them  all  myself; 

New  sources  of  myself  and  of  the  Self 

Above  me  will  be  opened  by  my  trials 

Which  you  must  share  with  me  in  sufferance, 

Helping  to  make  me  over  from  the  germ. 

0  friend,  to  you  I  can  communicate  myself, 

1  need  you  for  my  deepest  transformation. 
For  I  must  grow,  re-living  great  events' 
Within  myself  to  win  their  deepest  lore; 

I  must  unfold  in  mine  the  time's  own  soul, 

Mirror  in  me  the  spirit  of  the  age 

As  it  shifts  through  the  shapes  of  fleet  occurrences : 

0  help  me  daily  reconstruct  myself,  loved  Lamon. ' 

More  in  confession  to  himself  he  spoke, 

1  fancy,  than  to  me,  and  yet  he  meant  it ; 
I  stood  astonied  at  the  confidence, 

The  crushing  burden  of  his  faith  in  me; 

I  drooped — ^he  never  told  me  that  before 

In  all  the  years  of  our  tried  intimacy; 

The  task  imposed  seemed  greater  than  my  strength, 

Yea,  quite  impossible,  whereat  I  spoke: 


120     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  VIII. 

'  Lincoln,  of  men  you  hold  my  heart 's  own  heart, 
I  fain  would  do  for  you  what  may  be  done, 
E'en  to  the  point  which  bade  my  sacrifice; 
But  you  have  often  breathed  me  your  belief 
In  your  allotted  death  by  violence; 
You  hold  that  Fate  is  ever  hung  above  you 
Ready  to  drop — how  can  I  Fate  forestall? 
Nor  yours  nor  mine  is  to  be  circumvented. 
Have  you  not  told  me  of  your  moping  wraith 
Which  haunted  you  at  Springfield  as  you  lay 
Upon  the  lounge  just  after  your  election? 
Your  double  self  reflected  from  a  mirror, 
Two  counterparts,  one  dead  and  one  alive, 
Stood  up  before  you  there  in  imagery. 
Facing  each  other  till  they  swooned  together 
Into  a  nothingness  at  one  lost  breath. 
You  lay  there  thinking  your  Inaugural, 
Dreaming  its  consequences  to  come  on 
Far-off  in  time  perchance,  but  sure  at  last 
Both  to  yourself  as  man  and  to  the  people,     , 
Death  to  the  one,  salvation  to  the  other.'  " 

Young  Ellsworth  gave  a  spring  out  of  his  seat 
As  smitten  with  some  sudden  sympathy. 
And  paced  the  room  in  silent  agitation; 
Just  one  brief  shudder  whispered  on  his  lips 
In  spite  of  his  suppression  of  himself 
"Which  capped  his  discipline  of  soldiership. 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  121 

Lamou  well  marked  the  penetrating  stroke 
Which,  seemed  to  pierce  some  hidden  depth  of  soul, 
And  start  the  throes  to  pulsing  outwardly 
Through  all  the  close-knit  frame  of  his  brave  friend, 
Whom  he  addressed:  "Colonel,  why  do  you  start 
And  shiver  at  our  boding  Lincoln's  ghosts 
Which  rise  unbidden  in  our  talk  to-night? 
They  cannot  be  your  own  as  well,  I  trow." 
Ellsworth  re-took  his  seat  and  calmed  himself, 
Saying  a  smile-lit  word  to  the  narrator: 
"Good  story-teller  of  the  spooks,  go  on; 
I  fain  would  hear  the  rest  and  all  of  it. ' ' 

Full  of  his  theme  and  keyed  to  consonance 

The  Marshal  struck  the  note  where  it  had  dropped : 

"So  I  in  my  distress  of  doubtfulness 

Recalled  to  Lincoln  his  own  spectral  drama; 

Reflectively  he  bowed  his  head  atilt 

And  turning  to  himself  replied  to  me : 

'All  that  is  true — I  know  that  I  am  doomed 

If  I  but  go  to  Washington  and  dwell; 

Still  all  the  more  mine  is  to  go — I  must — 

If  I  do  not — I  speak  my  spirit's  call — 

Then  is  this  Nation  judged  to  death,  and  I 

Am  damned  the  deeper,  though  at  ease  I  live 

Out  Nature's  span  disburdened  of  a  task. 

Not  my  small  self,  but  the  one  Self  of  Selves 

Lays  that  decree  upon  my  shrinking  will. 


122     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Lamon,  my  priestly  friend,  I  whisper  thee 

My  dread  alternative  of  destiny, 

One  or  the  other  of  the  twain,  this  Nation 

Or  I  myself  must  take  the  assassin's  blow; 

Here  I  can  choose,  and  now  my  choice  is  made. 

Stretched  up  to  the  last  notch  of  will — I  go.' 

Whereat  his  stalwart  frame,  oft  laxly  lolling. 

Rose  upward  tense  and  straight  with  high  resolve ; 

Before  that  godlike  act  of  mortal  duty, 

I  stood  appalled  and  could  not  tongue  a  word." 

Here  Lamon  stayed  his  speech's  overflow, 
While  Ellsworth  rose  intensified  like  Lincoln, 
And  let  a  word  leap  from  his  toiling  heart : 
' '  That  is  the  spirit 's  pattern  I  would  choose. 
And  follow  my  exemplar's  destiny, 
E  'en  if  I  have  to  go  before  to  death. ' ' 

Both  stood  unworded  in  a  mutual  stare, 
Until  the  Marshal  mended  where  he  left 
Matters  of  import  deepest  still  unsaid, 
Threading  again  his  broken  narrative: 
"Then  Lincoln  fell  back  to  a  moment's  trance 
Which  gave  relief  from  high-wrought  stress  of  mind, 
Whence  poured  a  gentler  spoken  stream  of  words : 
'And  yet  I  have  to  look  ahead  with  care 
That  the  allotted  stroke  fall  not  my  way 
Out  of  its  time,  but  be  held  back  by  foresight 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  123 

Until  the  Nation  may  have  shaken  off 
The  doom  impending  now',  said  prescient  Lincoln, 
'And  risen  up  in  new-born  unity, 
Which  starts  its  fresh  career  through  centuries. 
Then  let  me  die  when  this  cleft  people  lives 
And  integrates  itself  anew — but  not  before — 
You  query  at  the  words:  But  not  before.' 
Lincoln  a  moment  stopped  at  his  own  question, 
Whose  mark  he  must  have  seen  writ  on  my  face, 
When  he,  affectioned  more  in  tone,  began: 
'Lamon,  protector,  friend,'  he  spoke  uprisen 
And  showering  gleams  of  Heaven  from  his  face, 
'You  have  your  proper  work  in  the  grand  scheme, 
I  know  that  Fate  is  clutching  at  me  hourly; 
But  you  must  be  for  me  the  buffer  grim 
Against  her  fiercely  hot  precipitancy 
Until  the  minute  ripens  my  last  breath; 
You  cannot  slay  my  doom,  but  you  can  stay  it — 
Prevent  you  cannot,  but  you  may  retard — 
And  Chance  you  can  outfence  by  skill — not  Fate — 
Inevitable  the  deed,  but  not  the  hour. 
Stave  off  you  may  the  Now  until  the  Then, 
Guard  me  against  the  secret  stabs  of  hate 
Which  threaten  from  the  air  on  every  side; 
Your  part,  though  hid,  is  great  and  necessary, 
You  are  to  bring  about  that  I  must  last 
Until  the  Union  be  no  longer  fated. 
When  it  can  live,  then  I  shall  cease  to  live, 


124     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Out  goes  my  candle  when  the  Sun  has  risen, 
I  say  it,  for  I  hear  the  trumpet  call: 
The  moment  I  can  take  this  Nation's  doom 
Upon  myself,  that  moment  is  my  last.' 
So  Lincoln  gave  me  of  his  deepest  Self 
And  I  too  heard  my  duty's  thunder-tone 
Of  peremptory  biddance  to  the  task. 
Somehow  I  seemed  then  to  be  fitted  just 
Into  my  niche  of  one  vast  dawning  plan. 
Not  mine  nor  his  alone,  but  the  supernal; 
We  too  must  will  what  is  beforehand  willed. 
Re-planning  just  the  plan  already  planned, 
And  so  we  both  can  help  our  Providence. 
As  Man  needs  God  for  his  completed  Self 
So  God  needs  Man  to  get  along  as  All." 

Lamon  here  whirled  in  his  revolving  chair 

And  drew  his  plummet  up  from  that  deep  well, 

The  well  unbottomed  of  philosophy, 

Then  dropped  it  in  the  stream  of  history: 

"Lincoln  has  oft  foreboded  me  his  death, 

Reflecting  on  old  tragic  destinies; 

He  even  read  of  Buddha  in  the  East, 

More  knew  he  of  the  end  of  Socrates, 

But  most  he  ponders  now  the  crucifixion 

In  which  the  dying  deed  was  just  redemption, 

The  individual's  loss  his  victory. 

The  winning  of  his  cause  his  tragedy. 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  125 

The  triumph  of  his  life  his  farewell  last. 

My  lot,  I  know,  is  but  auxiliar, 

I  have  to  thwart  the  pressing  destinies 

By  blows,  or  even  by  cajoleries 

Until  the  circle  of  the  hero's  time 

Be  rounded  to  its  node  of  last  conjunction. 

Ellsworth,  here  lies  my  fight  against  the  foe, 

Not  like  to  yours  in  battle  order  ranged. 

Where  all  the  war  is  in  the  open  waged. 

Many  a  blow  in  secret  have  I  parried 

When  ready  to  descend  upon  our  ruler; 

I  watch  the  night-birds  in  their  hidden  haunts, 

The  faces  writ  with  deadly  messages 

I  have  to  read  upon  these  surging  streets, 

And  nip  the  murderer's  deed  ere  it  be  done, 

Forefend  the  dagger  drawn  from  shedding  blood. 

But  you,  my  friend,  can  smite  the  sunlit  foe. 

Though  like  Achilles,  youthful,  beautiful. 

Heroic  Greek  of  eld  before  Troy's  walls, 

Your  fate  may  line  to  early  death  and  glorious." 

The  youth  in  uniform  again  sprang  up 
Unable  to  suppress  monition  from  within, 
And  loosed  his  melancholy  into  words: 
*'That  foe  can  strike  me  back — and  woe — he  will. 
Lamon,  your  talk  has  tapped  the  fount  far-down 
Of  my  prophetic  Self  which  hides  its  mood 
Beneath  my  merry  laugh  exterior; 


126     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Know  that  to-morrow  morn  we  cross  in  force 

Yon  river's  bound  and  tread  Virginia's  soil; 

When  from  the  "White-House  I  looked  yesterday 

I  saw  secession's  flag  flap  in  the  distance, 

Flaunting  upon  a  house-top  jeeringly, 

As  if  to  mock  the  Nation's  Capital; 

It  must  come  down  though  mine  own  blood  be  pay. 

You  are  aware  I  studied  law  with  Lincoln, 

Still  not  the  jurist  drew  me  to  his  presence 

That  I  might  daily  gain  his  intercourse, 

But  his  presaging  vein  of  character 

Was  kindred  to  mine  own  though  hid  from  view ; 

And  somehow  for  his  little  boy,  his  Willie 

I  bloomed  a  love  as  for  a  God-born  sprite 

Who  lived  in  bud  the  father's  flower  of  genius. 

Yet  a  profounder  strain  united  me 

With  him  in  elemental  depths  of  soul: 

That  v/as  his  sense  of  Fate  beneath  man's  life. 

Oft  bursting  to  the  surface  in  a  word 

Which  bubbled  up  from  his  dark  underworld  ' 

Then  fleeted  into  silence  of  the  light. 

Such  winging  words  of  his  I  caught  and  treasured 

Making  them  mine  in  fellowship  of  soul ; 

My  military  skill  which  he  esteems 

I  hope  to  use  in  service  of  my  country; 

But  the  first  goal  of  it  I  must  confess: 

I  fain  would  follow  him  when  he  came  hither, 

In  forecast  of  some  common  destiny, 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  127 

Which  I  must  live  out  for  him  in  advance. 
Lamon,  I  come  my  presage  to  unburden! 
Over  the  White-House,  over  the  Capitol, 
Over  the  Nation  what  a  pall  is  spread! 
And  over  me  too  falls  the  gloaming  sky! 
The  clock  is  striking  and  the  hour  is  near 
When  I  must  head  my  marching  regiment, 
The  actor  be  of  mine  own  tragedy; 
I  shall  be  first  to  fall  at  the  first  shot, 
Start  the  procession  long  of  sacrifices, 
Of  whom  I  sometimes  dream  I  glimpse  the  last — 
The  last  and  greatest  of  that  mortal  list — 
Hearken !  a  rap !  who  comes  at  this  late  hour ! 
I,  soldier,  shiver  at  the  quick  response." 

Lamon,  half-startled,  leaps  up  from  his  lull. 
And  with  his  hand  on  bolstered  pistol  clapped 
He  passes  jaw-set  to  unlatch  the  door 
Expecting  some  detective's  fresh  report 
Of  an  assassin's  stealthy  word  or  plot 
'Gainst  Lincoln,  or  the  murderer  himself 
Might  come  to  stab  the  Marshal  in  his  den: 
When  lo !  in  steps  the  President  alone, 
His  tall  gaunt  shape  ready  to  fall  to  pieces. 
At  every  joint  the  bones  seem  loosening, 
Pinched  up  his  face  and  sunken,  hollow-eyed, 
Even  his  hat  lies  flattened  into  creases; 
Lamon  addressed  him  with  a  heart's  reproof: 


128     LINCOLN  IN  TEE  WEITE  EOUSE—BOOK  VIII. 

''Why  do  you,  sir,  expose  your  precious  life 

At  this  bloodthirsty  hour  without  a  guard. 

Which  I  had  sent,  could  I  have  dreamed  this  trip  ? 

The  streets  are  thronged  with  secret  foes  of  yours 

Eager  to  knife  you  under  covering  night. 

And  you  dare  lay  into  their  daggered  fists 

Just  what  they  prowl  for — opportunity. 

How  can  I  ward  off  even  Accident 

So  fickle  in  its  strokes,  without  your  help — 

Though  I  may  have  a  spy  at  every  corner, 

And  in  each  lair  of  brutal  treachery, 

To  watch  and  hark,  and  to  take  hold  if  need  be, 

And  have  benetted  with  my  unseen  web 

This  entire  city  undergrown  with  treason: 

In  vain  it  is  if  you  will  bare  your  breast 

In  sheer  defiance  of  the  time  and  place 

To  the  assassin  w^riggling  in  my  toils." 

Lincoln  appeared  to  drop  down  limb  by  limb 
Into  his  seat  as  if  his  members  lax 
Would  fall  asunder  from  their  central  hold 
So  that  his  body  looked  a  massed  secession, 
Ready  to  be  dissolved  his  organism; 
Whereat  he  spoke  in  piteous  pleading  tones 
For  he  had  heard  before  the  same  reproof: 
"My  Lamon,  it  was  rash,  but  had  to  be — 
Hither  I  come,  driven  resistlessly 
By  my  inexorable  scourge  of  longing 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  129 

Without  delay  to  tell  myself  to  you 

As  sharer  of  my  spirit's  inmost  burden. 

The  double  vision  of  my  counterparts 

Clearer  and  longer  in  their  ghostly  stay, 

Again  has  been  vouchsafed  me  from  above — 

For  such  I  deem  it  now — their  visit  filled 

The  White-House  fuller  than  before  at  Springfield 

With  their  mute  messages,  yet  more  pronounced; 

They  talked  in  act  and  look — I  understood — 

I  seemed  the  third  communing  with  the  twain — 

My  single  self  spoke  with  my  double  self 

In  apparition  strange  of  what  must  be — 

Two  different  selves  of  me  I  saw  myself, 

Till  shrank  from  view  those  twinned  appearances. 

Then  to  my  vacant  revery  there  slipped 

Another  spectral  form,  Virginia, 

With  many  a  wrathful  threat  of  coming  war 

If  I  did  not  revoke  my  Proclamation; 

I  had  to  say  to  her  my  firm  refusal. 

When  suddenly  an  ominous  line  was  drawn 

Blood-red  between  us,  quite  impassable 

By  either  of  us  till  a  greater  Presence 

Filled  all  the  room,  whereat  a  vanishing  plunge 

She  soared  into  the  air  about  me  misted, 

And  I  was  left  alone  to  moon  my  gloom. 

To  wrangle  with  my  whole  demonic  brood, 

I  had  to  speed  to  you,  my  soul's  confessor 

That  I  might  ease  me  of  my  burdened  world, 


130     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  7III. 

By  intimate  words  of  friendship's  sjnnpathy. 

I  cannot  always  jest  away  my  cares; 

Although  at  times  I  lighten  clouds  with  humor, 

I  feel  the  rain-drops  gathering  for  the  fall, 

Which  sometimes  whirls  me  to  a  hurricane. 

To  you  alone  I  turn  my  secret  world, 

I  live  in  that  as  well  as  in  this  here 

Lit  by  our  common  human  consciousness, 

Which  well  cognizes  lesser  needs  of  mine. 

Though  all  uncognizant  of  what  I  am." 

Then  Ellsworth  slowly  lifted  up  himself  ' 

To  leave,  unwillingly,  that  company; 

For  in  their  converse  he  could  hear  himself 

Wording  anew  his  o\m  foreboding  bent. 

In  Lincoln's  office  for  awhile  at  Springfield 

The  law  he  read,  but  soon  he  gave  it  up, 

Obeying  inner  military  trend. 

Forecasting,  too,  the  tenor  of  the  time; 

He  trained  a  model  band  of  soldiery 

And  marched  it  to  the  center  of  the  storm. 

But  a  still  deeper  vein  ran  underneath, 

Which  Lincoln  had  observed  as  kin  with  his, 

A  hidden  strand  of  Fate's  presentiment. 

So  he  besought  his  youthful  soldier  friend, 

Who  had  stepped  twice  until  he  touched  the  door, 

To  drop  into  his  emptied  chair  again. 

With  words  which  flashed  a  momentary  smile: 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  131 


(( 


Obey  eonamand,  I  am  your  general  now; 
You  are  but  colonel  in  your  soldiership, 
My  name  is  writ  by  law  Commander-in-chief; 
Wait  not  to  be  cashiered  for  disobedience." 
More  soberly  the  speaker  added  then: 
*'I  know  you  have  this  self -same  spooky  world 
In  you,  which  I  acknowledge  also  mine, 
Though  more  unfolded  'tis  in  me,  I  deem, 
By  years  and  by  my  present  task  supernal, 
Into  a  hierarchy's  Presences, 
Though  of  their  order  I  have  much  to  learn." 

Ellsworth  once  more  sat  in  that  trinal  group 

For  he  was  tuned  just  to  the  coming  strain: 

When  Lincoln  started  to  renew  confession: 

"Two  Cabinets  I  have  for  consultation, 

An  Upper  and  a  Lower  they  are  termed 

In  my  thought's  nomenclature  of  them  both; 

For  my  affairs  political  is  one. 

The  Lower,  made  up  of  tried  and  famous  men 

Who  do  the  business  of  the  Government 

Down  to  the  atoms  of  its  finitude — 

Are  active  members  of  the  organism 

Of  State  with  its  nice  means  for  ends  complex 

And  multitudinous  as  corpuscles; 

These  ministers  deliberate  with  me 

On  all  details  of  practicality 

Which  vary  with  the  ever-shifting  tide 


132     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Of  happenings  that  vesture  naked  Time. 

But  I  well  know  there  is  another  Power 

Above  me  moving  to  its  goal  supreme; 

For  me  this  supra-mundane  potency 

Has  its  own  members  of  its  government, 

Its  ministers  of  last  authority, 

Who  with  their  Spirit's  Presidency  bear 

The  over-rule  of  these  United  States, 

And  too  of  me,  leading  us  onward  all 

To  its  own  end  which  I  must  glimpse,  though 
faintly, 

And  tell  unto  the  People  in  their  speech 

Which  also  is  my  homely  dialect; 

Thus  I  may  bring  them  to  participate 

In  the  one  foremost  movement  of  the  time, 

Aye  in  the  universal  soul  of  History 

Which  also  strives  in  them  unwitting  what. 

Lamon,  that  is  my  Upper  Cabinet 

With  which  I  oft  commune  in  full-orbed  vision, 

We  wordlessly  imparting  each  to  each. 

By  impress  sent  immediate  of  soul. 

That  Cabinet  is  not  of  my  selection 

But  it  appointed  me  for  minister 

Between  the  folk  down  here  and  it  up  there. 

To  realize  its  high  decree  in  act, 

And  weave  it  in  the  sweep  of  man's  whole  move- 
ment. 

Such  is  my  place  supreme  of  mediation. 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  I33 

Between  what  rules  above  and  works  below; 

I  know  that  I  must  serve  for  the  last  instance, 

Service  is  mine,  though  I  be  ruler  too, 

I  must  be  servant  to  the  Universe 

If  I  approve  me  rightful  President." 

Lincoln  had  straightened  his  loose-hanging  frame, 

He  tensed  each  nerve  up  to  a  ruling  "Will, 

No  longer  sat  he,  but  he  rose  and  spoke : 

*'I  am  a  member  of  that  Super-State 

Which  disciplines  the  Nations  of  the  earth; 

Its  minister  I  seek  to  train  myself, 

Vice-gerent  of  it  I  may  be  designed 

In  this  new  nexus  of  "World 's  History : 

Such  now  I  hold  to  be  my  highest  call. 

Long  since  some  fitful  gleams  of  it  would  fleet 

Do^Ti  on  my  path,  then  darken  suddenly. 

So  that  I  thought  it  but  my  fantasy, 

I  even  laughed  at  it  as  superstition. 

And  never  wooed  it  in  my  anecdotes, 

And  hardly  mentioned  it  in  public  speech. 

But  since  I  entered  the  enclosed  soul 

Of  which  the  "White-House  is  the  haunted  shell, 

That  Upper  Cabinet  comes  of  itself 

And  sits  with  me  alone,  imparting  first 

The  impress  weird  of  its  felt  Presences, 

Then  making  known  its  over-ruling  "Will 

"Which  fuses  into  oneness  with  mine  own 


134     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  YIII. 

When  I  grow  cognizant  of  it  as  truth, 

To  mediate  it  with  my  People 's  deed. 

That  Cabinet  is  too  a  composite 

Of  varying  membership  in  grade  of  power; 

How  many  they  may  be,  I  cannot  say 

As  yet — later  I  hope  to  know  them  better — 

Some  fade  away  beyond  their  airy  bounds 

To  vanishing  shadows  of  the  realm  unseen, 

While  one,  the  high  tribunal's  judge  supreme 

Comes  only  as  a  Presence  free  of  form 

Descending  on  me,  in  me,  and  around  me. 

Yet  bringing,  when  it  bids,  the  last  decision 

Of  all,  and  over  all  the  Cabinet 

Above,  of  which  it  is  the  President, 

Aye,  President  of  me  the  President, 

And  of  my  Lower  Cabinet  as  well. 

By  its  decrees  alone  I  was  braced  up 

To  hazard  that  first  Proclamation's  call 

Unto  the  folk  to  guard  our  heritage 

Of  instituted  freedom  handed  down. 

It  fetched  me  Douglas  on  the  moment's  tick, 

And  also  whispered  me  as  it  was  vanishing : 

'The  People  will  respond,  be  not  afraid, 

I  shall  be  here  myself  with  them — with  you. 

The  two  companions  still  were  sitting  there, 
The  Marshal  and  the  Colonel  as  if  dazed. 
They  felt  themselves   tongue-bound   in   trance   to 
thoughts 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  I35 

Beyond  the  farthest  stretch  of  human  speech; 
The  world  not  to  be  cooped  in  mortal  word 
They  glhnpsed  as  true,  indeed  the  only  truth, 
In  ecstacy  of  mood  unspeakable, 
And  heard  the  note  of  sphering  harmonies, 
"Which  echo  in  the  soul  from  utmost  spaces 
When  it  is  played  on  by  the  Universe. 

Soon  Lamon  broke  the  silence  getting  weird, 
With  a  quick-shouting  line  of  vocables: 
''What!  you  and  Douglas  reconciled  at  last! 
Antagonists  in  nature  and  in  mind, 
Twain  in  the  very  build  of  soul  and  body ! 
Your  difference,  I  deemed,  reached  to  the  bottom! 
Narrate  to  me  that  union  of  disunion, 
It  gleams  a  touch  of  forecast  to  my  soiil. " 
Then  Lincoln  lifted  up  his  downward  brow. 
Less  sunken  overhead  in  revery 
Starting  to  tone  more  easefully  his  voice: 
"Soon  came  a  new  appearance  on  the  air. 
In  outline  more  distinct  of  shape  before  me, 
And  capable  of  breathing  spirit-sounds 
Which  made  me  vibrant  to  them  from  the  center, 
Out  of  whose  tones  there  flowed  this  new  decree : 
'  Call  now  your  great  opponent  to  the  White-House, 
The  life-long  rival  of  your  triumph's  rise, 
Be  reconciled  with  him — lock  hand  and  heart 
In  the  great  common  cause  which  fronts  you  here; 


136     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

Far   down  you   both   have   this   one   pulse-beat — 

Union. ' 
But  as  I  stood  at  balance  in  my  doubts, 
A  third  faint  shadow  fleeted  with  a  voice: 
*Be  not  the  laggard — I  shall  bring  him  you, 
See  him  now  mount  the  steps — 'tis  he  who  knocks.' 
I  hasten  to  the  door,  and  in  walks  Douglas 
And    bows    salute    with    gracious    heart-throbbed 

words : 
'Now  we  are  one  to  make  our  country  one.' 
I  handed  him  to  read  my  call  for  troops, 
'That  is  the  note,'  he  cried,  'I  shall  enlist, 
Let  me  now  march  and  be  your  soldier  prime; 
Give  me  your  orders  Captain,  you  I  serve. ' 
So  he  has  gone  to  rouse  our  strong  North-West, 
The  Union's  child,  to  save  its  periled  mother. 
But  as  he  stepped  beyond  the  sill  he  said 
With  firm  yet  saddened  look  in  sombre  tones 
Which  welled  out  of  his  soul  of  deep  misgiving : 
'Lincoln,  I  know  I  shall  be  first  to  fall 
Like  him  who  first  leaped  on  the  shores  of  Troy ; 
That  is  the  word  of  Fate  I  hear  decreed  for  me ! 
So  may  I  be,  so  pray  I  that  I  be 
The  firstling  of  my  Nation 's  sacrifice. '  " 

Mid  the  tense  words  in  intertangling  sounds 
A  distant  drumbeat  rolls  along  with  dawn 
Which  starts  to  phosphoresce  crepuscular, 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  137 

When  Ellsworth  springs  up  to  his  feet  at  once 

As  if  he  must  obey  that  muffled  call, 

And  follow  the  faint  signal  of  the  light; 

But  as  he  quickly  strode  and  touched  the  latch, 

He  let  this  outburst  tell  his  stormful  heart: 

"My  Lincoln,  nay — that  lot  is  mine — the  call 

I  heard  just  now — did  you  not  hear  it  too — 

The  overture  of  battle  tuning  up  ? 

I  shall  be  first  to  meet  the  doom  of  death 

Preluding  Fate  for  Douglas — and  for  you ! 

Yea,  e'en  for  yours  a  forecast  haunts  me  dizzy." 

But  at  that  smiting  voice  oracular 

Lincoln  himself  leaped  up  responsively : 

"And  I  shall  go  the  way  along  with  you; 

Lamon,  farewell;  doomed  by  ourselves  we  march." 

Too  bodeful  for  salute  they  slid  apart. 
The  twain  sped  talkless  down  the  sombered  street, 
Each  weighted  with  his  own  and  the  other's  gloom, 
For  both  their  bodes  kept  echoing  through  their 

souls. 
Until  the  "White-House  in  Aurora's  smile 
Glanced  mid  the  leaves,  when  Ellsworth  flashed  a 

word. 
And  pointed  to  a  flag  in  the  horizon  gray: 
"That  token  of  the  foe  I  shall  pull  down. 
And  then  I  shall  return  this  way  to  you, 
Again  to-day  you  will  behold  me  enter 
Into  the  White-House.    Fare  you  well,  0  friend." 


138     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

He  barkened  not  unto  the  gurgling  words 
Which  Lincoln  throated  sighful  in  response; 
The  Colonel  sprang  into  the  quickstep's  gait 
And  reached  the  camp  where  lay  his  regiment; 
He  formed  his  men  in  order  of  the  march 
For  crossing  over  to  Virginia. 

But  Lincoln  turned  away  with  melting  eyes 
In  fellow-feeling  of  sad  premonition 
Which  stirred  him  for  the  youth  and  for  himself 
Since  he  too  thrilled  at  touch  of  Destiny 
That  had  foredrawn  for  him  the  lines  of  life. 

But  ere  the  eve  shut  off  the  sunshine's  sway, 
On  this  same  day  was  brought  young  Ellsworth's 

corpse 
Stretched  on  a  bier  in  his  blue  uniform, 
The  first  to  stain  in  blood  secession's  soil. 
So  he  returned  within  one  dial's  circle 
Tallying  the  Hours'  swift  race  around  the  sky, 
Into  the  White-House,  as  he  had  presaged, 
From  which  he  was  borne  out  to  dwell  his  tomb. 
In  military  honor  of  the  hero. 
The  protomartyr  for  his  country's  life. 
Having  as  mourner  chief  the  President, 
Who  mooded  in  himself  the  tragedy, 
While  all  the  folk  felt  Heaven's  the  dispensation. 


THE  FIRST  TRAGEDY.  139 

When  Lincoln  came  back  to  his  mansion  craped, 

The  monumental  White-House,  now  a  shrine 

In  which  the  order  new  of  time  is  throned, 

He  sought  his  solitary  self  again 

With  which  he  would  commune  about  this  hap, 

Whose  sudden  shock  had  overset  his  heart: 

*'I  loved  the  youth,  and  had  great  hope  for  him, 

When  his  career  might  flower  out  with  years 

And  with  the  soldier's  opportunity. 

A  native  genius  for  command  of  men 

Through  military  discipline  was  his. 

Greater  than  any  I  have  seen  as  yet. 

For  me  it  was  his  high  advantage  too 

That  he  had  come  the  citizen  in  arms; 

The  civil  power  with  us  must  stay  supreme 

Over  the  sword  of  war  which  it  invokes, 

Yet  which  begets  an  arbitrary  rule 

Wherein  doth  lurk  a  jeopardy  for  freedom. 

My  Ellsworth  seemed  uniting  opposites, 

Civilian  and  soldier,  oft  at  odds, 

Were  twinned  in  him  into  one  harmony. 

And  so  he  shone  the  model  volunteer 

For  all  the  people  willed  to  wage  this  war 

In  which  we  have  to  watch  the  musket  too 

Lest  it  may  turn  to  bayonet  the  law — 

Which  is  its  record  past  in  history. 

A  tumbling  crowd  of  men  he  regimented, 

And  trained  to  ways  of  war  in  New  York  City, 


140     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  VIII. 

So  suddenly  that  still  the  act  appears 

To  me  as  done  by  higher  inspiration 

Which  sealed  in  him  the  gift  of  leadership ; 

And  when  I  saw  him  head  his  soldiery 

"Which  wheeled  encompassing  the  Capitol 

Then  trod  in  chorus  down  the  Avenue, 

Until  they  came  huzzaing  to  the  White-House 

With  him  as  very  soul  of  their  huge  body, 

I  said  unto  myself  in  admiration 

Of  that  young  Mars  on  horseback  winging  by : 

'There!  he  appears,  my  future  general!'  " 

Here  Lincoln  raised  his  hand  to  point  the  man, 
But  dropped  it  slow  with  his  sad  muse : 
''Alas!  my  hope  of  him  is  buried  now, 
And  whom  I  love  is  smit  again  by  fate 
Just  at  the  moment  of  fulfillment's  kiss; 
So  it  has  been  and  so  it  still  must  be 
Until  the  cycle  of  my  deeds  runs  full. 
When  my  own  lot  of  life  shall  come  around, 
And  in  my  turn  fetch  me  its  mortal  thrust.  - 
Farewell,  my  Ellsworth,  tied  to  me  in  soul, 
And  even  membered  with  my  family 
For  thy  heart 's  love  to  mine  OAvn  child  beloved : 
But  stop  !  shut  off  the  dread  presentiment ! ' ' 


i00h  Itintl^. 


The  Backwoods^  Sage. 

Lincoln. 
Indeed !  a  new  visitor  from  the  West !     On  your 
card  I  read  the  name  of  Solomon  Touchstone — it 
sounds  familiar  and  yet  I  cannot  quite  place  you. 

Touchstone. 
From  Illinois,  Montgomery  County.  I  support- 
ed you  in  your  last  campaign  in  which  you  were 
elected  President;  also  I  cut  grain  for  you  in  our 
locality  when  you  ran  for  the  Senate  against  Doug- 
las. And  so  I  have  come  to  "Washington  just  to 
note  how  you  are  getting  on  in  this  great  crisis, 
and  perhaps  to  ask  a  question  or  two.  I  am  my- 
self a  live  interrogation. 

(141) 


142     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

Lincoln. 
Glad  to  see  you.  I  like  to  receive  visits  from  my 
old  friends  and  to  have  them  give  some  drops  of 
public  opinion  from  the  distant  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. I  have  already  found  that  I  cannot  measure 
the  "whole  people  aright  from  this  confined  point 
of  view  though  it  be  the  Capital.  But  tell  me,  what 
do  you  particularly  seek?  Two  places  I  have  in- 
deed, but  three  place-fillers  hustling — 

Touchstone. 
Enough !    On  that  matter  I  shall  set  you  at  rest 
in  one  brief  sentence:     I  wish  no  office,  either  for 
myself  or   for   any  relative   or   other   person.     I 
would  be  your  officeless  caller. 

Lincoln. 

What !  not  even  a  pen-knife  to  grind  here !  The 
first  man  I  have  met  of  that  stripe  from  Illinois,  or 
from  the  East  or  "West;  let  me  take  you  by  the 
hand.  The  little  cross-roads  Post  Office  is  piling 
upon  me  almost  as  much  worry  as  the  big  war.  But 
where  have  I  seen  you  before,  and  heard  that  much- 
promising  name,  Solomon  Touchstone  ?  Ever  since 
I  glimpsed  your  profile,  I  have  been  delving  for 
its  pictured  counterpart  in  my  memory  through 
many  layers  of  years,  and  I  cannot  yet  find  the 
picture.  Still  I  know  it  is  there  if  I  could  only  rub 
off  time's  dust  somewhat. 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  143 

Touchstone. 

Let  me  help  you  a  little.  I  was  with  you  in  the 
Legislature  at  Vandalia  at  the  start  of  your  career, 
and  heard  you  make  your  first  speech,  in  whose 
grandest  flight  on  the  Union  out  popped  your  girl 
sitting  with  you  under  the  mulberry  tree,  at  New 
Salem,  I  judge.  Do  you  not  recollect  the  applause  1 
I  sat  just  before  you  and  shouted  for  the  name. 

Lincoln. 

Yes,  I  vividly  recall  that  scene  with  what  went 
before  and  came  after. 

Touchstone. 

You  do  not  respond  with  your  usual  sunburst 
of  smiles,  but  sadly,  almost  sighfully.  Well,  let  me 
refresh  you  with  another  incident.  Perhaps  the 
reason  why  you  do  not  identify  me  is  because  I 
have  changed  my  head-gear;  I  then  wore  the 
backwoods'  luxury  of  a  coon-skin  cap  dangling 
with  ring-tails,  but  now,  in  order  to  appear  before 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  I  have  bought 
me  at  cost  of  some  good  dollars,  the  stiff  conven- 
tional stove-pipe,  which  really  disguises  me.  Then 
I  have  for  the  occasion  laid  aside  my  checkered 
cravatless  shirt-collar  and  adjusted  myself  to  the 
dignity  of  the  "White-House. 


144     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

Lincoln. 
Dignity!  that  never  was  my  passion,  you  know. 
But  the  more  welcome.  I  find  a  man  now  to  keep 
me  in  tune  with  my  own  tailored  appearance.  I 
tell  you,  my  friend,  you  and  I  look  as  if  we  had 
donned  stolen  suits;  our  clothes  seem  to  have  been 
made  for  somebody  else. 

Touchstone. 
Yes,  we  both  are  rocking  in  the  same  ungainly 
boat  on  this  sea  of  Atlantic  fashion.  But  now  for 
another  little  reminiscence :  on  our  way  to  Van- 
dalia  we  met  at  a  chance  farm-house,  and  both  of 
us  slept  under  the  same  coverlet  as  the  people  had 
only  the  one  bed.  In  the  night  you  gripped  me  so 
hard  that  I  woke,  when  I  heard  you  whisper  a 
name  in  your  dream  with  the  deepest,  tenderest 
gush  of  emotion  of  which  the  heart  is  capable.  I 
was  thrilled  through  and  through  with  that  tone, 
but  in  the  morning  I  said  nothing  about  the  matter, 
as  mj'-  soul  was  heavy  with  other  outlooks.  Already 
the  great  struggle  which  is  now  upon  us  was  peep- 
ing above  the  horizon,  and  I  was  intent  on  it  with 
no  small  anxiety.  Do  you  remember  my  little  dis- 
sertation upon  Jefferson  and  his  twofold  political 
mentality,  especially  as  regards  the  Union?  He 
then  rose  up  before  me  as  the  prototj^pe  of  the 
whole  country  in  its  rifted  halfness,  half  black  half 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I45 

white,  half  slave  half  free,  half  union  half  dis- 
union, a  condition  which  could  not  endure,  as  you 
afterward  stated  in  your  most  memorable  utter- 
ance, which  I  have  read  and  pondered  so  much 
that  it  must  be  written  through  all  the  folds  of  my 
brain. 

Lincoln. 

That  I  have  been  led  to  recall  often  in  my  most 
recent  experience;  I  have  just  been  dealing  with 
double  Virginia  now  cleft  to  the  bottom  both  within 
and  without,  in  her  thinking  soul  and  in  her  landed 
body.  Significant  is  it  that  her  convention  of 
unionists  have  torn  up  the  Union. 

Touchstone. 
Well,  let  that  pass.    I  have  something  else  on  my 
heart,  whereof  I  would  like  to  speak  a  word  if 
you  have  time  to  listen. 

Lincoln. 
With  pleasure.  I  am  not  only  glad,  but  deem  it 
very  instructive  and  a  part  of  my  duty  to  talk 
with  such  persons  as  you,  fresh  from  the  people, 
and  full  of  the  beating  of  the  popular  heart.  Es- 
pecially do  I  wish  to  hear  from  my  North-West,  for 
I  must  keep  in  touch  with  it,  though  I  be  now  at  a 
distance  from  it  and  in  quite  another  atmosphere. 
It  sent  me  hither  to  administer  the  whole  Nation, 


146     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

yet  as  I  believe,  in  subtle  accord  with  its  spirit.  So 
you  must  bring  some  quaffs  of  milk  from  the  old 
cow  whose  teats  I  used  to  suck  directly,  for  my 
deed's  innermost  nourishment.  Here  I  feel  my- 
self at  times  in  danger  of  losing  my  hold  on  my 
original  folk,  that  of  the  Union-begotten,  free-born, 
hope-giving  North-West — the  Lord's  new  Land  of 
Promise. 

Touchstone. 
Your  words  bring  me  to  the  chief  object  of  my 
visit,  and  I  shall  speak  it  out  at  once.  In  your 
recent  message  to  Congress  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
you  affirm  in  your  argument  that  the  Union  is  older 
than  any  of  the  States,  in  fact  created  them  as 
States ;  so  in  time,  rank,  and  sovereignty  it  has  the 
Primacy.  Still  you  must  be  aware  the  representa- 
tives of  the  old  colonial  bodies  politic  met  and 
formed  the  Union  and  formed  the  Constitution, 
That  fact  cannot  be  argued  out  of  existence,  as  it 
seems  to  me. 

Lincoln. 

Well,  what  do  you  wish  me  to  pump  out  of  that 
view?  You  are  big  with  some  thought,  let  it  be 
born. 

Touchstone. 

A  distinction  which  is  never  to  be  forgotten, 
which  is  to  become  more  and  more  significant  with 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I47 

the  years,  and,  as  I  think,  is  to  assert  itself  might- 
ily in  this  approaching  conflict  of  arms.  There  is 
the  old  set  of  States  which  formed  this  Union,  Co- 
lonial, Europe-born,  Atlantic,  the  old  Thirteen, 
never  to  be  increased  in  number,  fixed  in  trans- 
mitted conventions,  deeming  themselves  the  fit 
rulers.  Then  there  is  the  new  set  of  States  Union- 
born,  river-tied,  valley-joined,  right  aggressive, 
ever  increasing  in  number,  whereby  our  country 
is  self-renewing  and  self-generating,  and  indeed 
self-regenerating.  They  belong  chiefly  to  the  one 
vast  fresh-water  valley  which  has  oneness  of  ter- 
ritory through  itself  in  its  one  great  river.  That 
difference  is  what  must  now  be  recognized — not  for 
the  purpose  of  separation  but  of  the  deeper  unity 
which  comes  of  the  knowledge  of  differences. 

Lincoln. 

Aye,  but  I  am  President  of  the  whole  United 
States,  of  the  East  and  West,  even  of  the  loyal  and 
disloyal. 

Touchstone. 

True  and  rightly  said,  and  I  believe  that  too 
with  all  my  heart.  Still  something  must  be  added 
at  present  even  to  that.  Of  course  we  are  familiar 
with  the  difference  between  Slave-State  and  Free- 
State — we  are  having  trouble  enough  about  it  just 
now — but  that  difference  existed  before  Union  and 


148     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

Coustitution,  and  unfortunately  for  us  was  taken 
up  into  both,  from  which  it  is  probably  in  the 
course  of  surgical  elimination  through  this  war. 
But  you  cannot  stop  simply  with  the  preservation 
of  the  Union,  it  must  be  transformed. 

Lincoln. 
That  may  come  in  time.  But  at  present  we  have 
our  hands  full  of  the  act  of  simple  self-preserva- 
tion. When  we  get  to  shore,  we  may  wash  in  fresh 
water  our  briny  sea-stained  garments.  But  what 
about  that  other  difference  in  our  land  with  which 
you  began  your  lecture?  It  has  evolved  after  and 
under  the  Union,  has  it  not? 

Touchstone. 
Certainly.  Let  me  remind  you,  Mr.  President, 
you  came  from  a  Union-mothered  State,  and  you 
showed  it  unconsciously  when  you  argued  in  your 
Message  and  also  in  your  Inaugural,  that  the  Union 
gave  birth  to  all  the  States,  even  to  the  old  Thir- 
teen. That  is  true  of  Illinois  and  the  North- West, 
but  not  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts;  the  birth 
of  your  own  State  you  clapped  upon  all  the  rest 
in  a  rather  naive  way,  as  it  seems  to  me. 

Liyicoln. 
Thank  you  for  that  compliment  to  my  innocence, 
which  is  sometimes  doubted  in  these  days.    So  you 
do  not  agree  with  my  argument? 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  149 

Touchstone. 
Not  wholly,  if  you  may  permit  me.  You  know 
that  the  American  people,  though  not  technical 
lawyers,  are  legal-minded,  have  to  be  so,  if  they 
shall  vote  understandingly  to  maintain  their  in- 
stitutions. The  humblest  elector  has  to  realize  the 
Constitution  and  its  history,  and  listen  to  its  expo- 
sition from  the  stump.  Every  presidential  election 
turns  more  or  less  profoundly  upon  some  constitu- 
tional questions.  Your  political  campaign — how 
well  do  I  recollect  my  share  in  it ! — hovered  about 
the  Dred  Scott  decision  and  the  right  interpreta- 
tion of  our  organic  law. 

Lincoln. 
Very  good;  my  speeches  to  the  people  have  had 
to  be  as  legal  as  those  addressed  to  judge  and  jury, 
even  though  I  changed  at  times  the  law's  stiff  hab- 
iliments. Still,  how  about  my  argument  upon 
which  I  set  some  importance? 

Touchstone. 
It  is  only  half  true  of  our  whole  polity ;  true  of 
the  America-born  States,  the  well-called  New 
States,  now  a  decided  majority  of  the  family  with 
young  babes  always  plumping  in;  imtrue  of  the 
Europe-born  States,  the  old  Thirteen,  rounded- 
out,   finished,   no   more  possible   to   arrive.     And 


150     LINCOLN  IN  TEE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

this  difference  of  origin  begets,  yea  necessitates  a 
difference  of  character,  whereof  I  deem  you  the 
most  coercive  instance — the  unique  personality  be- 
gotten of  America,  not  of  Europe.  I  have  been 
watching  you  unfold  toward  such  a  goal  for  some 
years — you  can  stand  a  little  praise  to  counter- 
balance the  blame  you  are  getting. 

Lincoln. 
My  friend,  spare  my  burning  cheeks,  which  your 
talk  has  set  afire.  Then  you  will  puff  up  my  van- 
ity so  that  there  will  be  no  getting  along  with  me. — 
But  to  the  point:  you  hold,  therefore,  that  the 
Union-mothered  States  have  naturally  a  greater 
devotion  to  the  mother,  and  will  maintain  their 
birthright  with  a  mightier  filial  love,  and  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  filial  duty. 

Touchstone. 
So  I  think,  for  their  devotion  to  the  Union  is 
filial.  And  hence  State  pride  is  not  so  strong  with 
us,  since  it  was  begotten  in  the  old  separate,  jeal- 
ous, mutually  repellent  colonies.  It  is  neutralized 
in  every  community,  since  this  is  made  up  of  indi- 
viduals from  various  commonwealths.  The  great 
Western  migration  from  the  sea-bound  States  was 
really  what  unionized  our  souls  as  well  as  our  ter- 
ritory. Still  further,  every  large  and  small  com- 
munity built  itself  from  within,  through  its  o^vn 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  151 

members;  it  was  not  built  by  some  individual 
founder,  some  minister  as  usually  in  New  England, 
or  by  some  English  lord  or  gentleman,  as  often  in 
the  South.  It  was  self-organized,  through  each  in- 
dividual; hence  the  power  of  initiative,  so  observ- 
able out  there  in  our  North- West.  I  tell  you  the 
distinctive  American  character  arose  with  that 
great  migration  from  the  salt-water  States  to  our 
fresh-water  River  Valley.  And  I  dare  prophesy 
that,  in  the  course  of  the  present  war,  this  charac- 
ter of  ours  will  reveal  itself  as  distinctive  by  feats 
of  arms. 

Lincoln. 

I  suppose  I  am  a  sample  of  that  lot — my  grand- 
father, my  father  and  myself  all  shared  in  diiferent 
stages  of  that  migration. 

Touchstone. 

Yes,  you  are  the  prime  example.  Then  our  life 
on  the  border,  and  our  ceaseless  struggle  with  the 
Red  Man  developed  the  same  traits  of  personal  in- 
dependence and  forthright  initiative,  with  the 
power  of  self-organization.  I  remember  you  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War.  I  belonged  to  a  different  regi- 
ment, but  I  saw  you  in  command  of  your  company 
repeatedly ;  much  was  then  enacted  in  small  which 
afterwards  took  place  in  large,  indeed  is  taking 
place  now  tremendously  magnified.    I  recollect  the 


152     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

talk  and  the  turmoil  about  that  fugitive  slave- 
mother  with  her  child  who  fled  to  your  camp  from 
Missouri;  you  never  sent  her  back.  "What  did  you 
do  with  her?  Report  has  it  that  you  smuggled  her 
out  of  camp  in  a  Quaker's  wagon.  But  the  same 
has  occurred  hundreds  of  times  since.  Then  I  was 
not  far  off  when  a  young  Lieutenant  named  Jeffer- 
son Davis  swore  you  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States;  the  story  was  told  that  you  brought  your 
big  bony  fist  down  upon  the  table  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  oath  with  such  a  thump,  that  the  boards 
rattled  apart,  the  ink  was  spilled,  the  darky  ran 
out,  and  the  Lieutenant  sprang  back  startled,  with 
his  hand  reaching  for  the  hilt  of  his  weapon. 

Lincoln. 

Many  fables  seem  to  be  clustering  about  me, 
spinning  fancy 's  cocoon  from  a  wee  maggot  of  fact ; 
indeed  I  help  a  little  in  that  line  by  a  bit  of  fic- 
tion now  and  then.  Quite  as  marvelous  seems  the 
incident  that  I  first  saw  Robert  Anderson  in,  the 
Black  Hawk  War;  he  was  the  young  Lieutenant 
who  mustered  me  out,  and  now  he  is  the  Nation's 
first  hero. 

Touchstone. 

Do  you  know  that  the  people  in  Illinois  have  be- 
gun to  spin  a  legend  out  of  that  fact  ever  since 
the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  but  a  few  weeks 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I53 

ago,  ill  which  Anderson  took  such  an  heroic  part? 
I  have  heard  only  during  the  last  few  days  that 
you  then  listened  to  a  warm  discussion  between 
those  two  Southern  Lieutenants,  Davis  and  Ander- 
son, out  there  on  the  border;  their  theme  was  the 
Union,  at  that  time  uppermost  in  all  men's  minds 
through  the  nullification  of  South  Carolina — each 
of  those  two  officers  taking  opposite  sides,  as  they 
do  now.  In  fact  the  debate  proceeded  to  such  a 
pitch  that  each  threatened  to  open  fire  on  the  other 
at  Charleston  Harbor,  if  they  should  happen  to  be 
in  command  there  of  the  two  opening  forces.  A 
wonderful  prophecy  of  what  has  actually  come  to 
pass!  In  many  respects  that  Black  Hawk  War 
must  have  been  a  rich  experience  for  you,  a  sort  of 
preliminary  training  for  your  present  work.  In 
my  own  case  I  often  seem  to  be  going  through  the 
same  encompassing  world  of  events  which  I  then 
went  through.  A  much  larger  circle  it  is  now — 
still  I  appear  to  be  rounding  it  anew. 

Lincoln. 

I  often  now  think  of  that  war,  embryonic  truly 
for  me,  and  full  of  forecast.  I  felt  the  germ  of  the 
present  crisis  throbbing  then.  The  people  had  the 
same  presage  and  threw  it  out  into  a  fable.  They 
must  make  a  myth  of  what  lurks  deepest  within 
them,  though  the  act  be  unconscious. 


154     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

Touchstone. 
Yes,  so  the  people  are,  and  so  too  you  are.  "What 
we  have  been  speaking  of  strikes  me  as  a  pointed 
illustration.  Though  your  argument  that  the  Union 
first  produced  the  States  holds  only  of  the  "West  at 
present,  a  change  will  come  which  will  make  your 
words  prophetic. 

Lincoln. 

I  do  not  understand  you — you  are  riddlesome  as 
the  ancient  Oracles. 

Touchstone. 

The  old  Thirteen  are  to  be  re-born  as  New  States. 
This  war  will  put  them  all.  Northern  as  well  as 
Southern,  Free-States  as  well  as  Slave-States,  back 
into  the  womb  of  mother  Union  who  will  bear  them 
afresh,  so  that  all  the  States  will  be  Union-moth- 
ered, old  as  well  as  new. 

Lincoln. 

In  the  name  of  Heaven  who  is  to  bring  about 
that  miraculous  regeneration?  Is  not  that  a  con- 
ception of  your  brain  rather  than  of  the  mother? 
But  who? 

Touchstone. 

You  are  the  chosen  man;  you  came  from  the 
right  place,  from  the  right  people,  from  our  free 
Union-born  New  World,  whose  character  you  are 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I55 

to  make  universal  before  you  finish,  imparting  it 
to  all  the  rest  of  ovir  country  which  has  it  not.  So 
I  forethink  your  chief  fulfilment.  Your  recent 
message  says  as  much,  though  in  an  uncertain  way ; 
when  you  declare  that  the  Union  is  the  begetter  of 
the  single  States  you  speak  not  of  what  has  been  or 
yet  is,  but  prophetically  of  what  is  to  be.  Really  in 
that  argument  of  yours  you  touched  the  dumb  but 
fermenting  aspiration  of  the  folk-soul  as  yet  unful- 
filled, hardly  yet  expressed  in  its  own  right. 

Lincoln. 
Some  such  intimations  I  confess  that  I  have  fore- 
boded at  times.    But  a  great  evolution  lies  between 
now  and  such  a  fulfilment. 

Touchstone. 

Before  this  fiery  smelting  process  of  war  is  done, 
the  whole  Union,  North  and  South,  East  and  "West, 
old  and  new,  must  be  flung  into  the  furnace  and 
poured  over.  List !  do  you  hear  that  far-off  shout  ? 
I  have  been  listening  to  it  for  days — it  calls  for  the 
army's  advance — 

Lincoln. 

But  enough,  good  friend,  of  such  bodeful  vatici- 
nation at  present.  Still  I  am  glad  that  you  have 
brought  me  your  message,  which  comes  like  a 
draught  from  the  prairies  of  my  own  dear  State. 


156     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  IX. 

Now  I  have  to  commune  with  the  whole  People, 
feel  their  willingness  and  unwillingness,  move  with 
them  when  they  are  ready,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
educate  them  up  to  their  enormous  task.  For  they 
have  to  do  the  work ;  they  must  furnish  the  blood, 
the  treasure,  the  votes,  and  the  lives  for  the  great 
sacrifice.  And  I,  the  unlearned  Western  petti- 
foger,  as  they  call  me  here  in  the  East,  am  to  stand 
at  the  center  of  the  Nation,  am  the  very  pivot  of  the 
"World's  History.  And  I  have  the  temerity  to  be- 
lieve in  myself  as  capable  of  doing  the  job.  There ! 
I  have  caught  the  itch  of  praising  myself  from  you. 

Touchstone. 

Excellent !  I  see  that  you  understand  yourself. 
But  how  unearthly  it  all  seems!  Little  could  I 
foresee  that  I  would  meet  you  here  in  the  White- 
House,  when  I  heard  you  dreaming  in  that  farmer's 
cabin  on  the  way  to  Vandalia.  You  show  the  lad- 
der of  ascent  from  humblest  to  highest  possible,  for 
every  American  boy,  yea,  for  all  coming  peoples. 
Hark !  that  shout  again !  now  louder !  The  whole 
Nation  seems  to  be  marching !    I  wonder  if  I  dream ! 

Lincoln. 

Oh  yes — I  am  reminded — I  have  a  keen  longing 
to  know  what  name  I  lisped  in  my  sleep,  at  your 
side,  as  you  say,  in  that  farm-house  under  a  com- 
mon coverlet. 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I57 

Touchstone. 
I  remember  it  well,  for  not  only  the  words  but 
the  very  tones  were  imprinted  on  my  heart's  own 
throbs — Ann  Rutledge. 

Lincoln. 

Dear  friend — longer  I  cannot  commune  with  you 
to-day.     Hereafter  I  may  see  you  again. 

Touchstone. 
To  me  also  this  is  enough  for  once,  though  I  hope 
it  is  not  the  last  time.     God  speed  you — farewell, 
my  President. 


158     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 


Lincoln  Alone. 

"What  a  fierce  whirl  of  stormy  memories 
Does  that  loved  name  call  up  within  my  brain 
And  dash  me  drifting  on  my  inner  Ocean! 
Life's  deepest  pleasure  and  its  deepest  pain 
Leap  forth  to  combat  in  those  syllables 
And  make  my  helpless  soul  their  battle-field. 
The  image  of  that  vanished  maid  has  come  to  talk 

with  me, 
And  in  this  White-House  has  its  lodgment  taken, 
It  would  not  stay  behind  in  its  old  home. 
Merely  to  haunt  a  solitary  grave. 
Already  I  have  seen  it  several  times 
Or  known  its  presence  in  my  brooding  hours, 
With  its  all-loving  look  of  holy  grace 
Wliich  ever  smiles  on  me  humanity, 
Coming  to  answer  my  unconscious  prayer. 

And  yet  I  feel  a  twitch  of  blame  within, 
I  hardly  dare  confess  it  to  myself 
Beknown,  that  I  two  loves  of  woman  feel 
In  the  same  household,  aye  in  the  same  heart ; 
One  is  a  dweller  of  my  Upper  World, 
And  ranks  there  with  the  other  Presences 
Who  have  installed  themselves  without  my  hest. 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  I59 

And  bring  me  intimations  of  far  things, 
As  well  as  warnings  of  transcendent  Will. 
The  other  woman  is  my  wedded  wife 
The  maker  of  my  home  as  it  is  here; 
The  mother  of  my  children,  and  their  care, 
Companion  of  life's  journey  with  me  still, 
Having  her  part  in  my  official  rank. 
The  lady  of  the  Presidency 's  mansion. 

But  when  I  must  commune  with  Love  itself, 
With  universal  Love  in  human  semblance. 
Whereof  my  heart  doth  often  feel  the  need, 
Until  it  breaks  me  down  to  overflow. 
The  vision  of  Ann  Rutledge  has  the  power 
To  dart  into  my  mind  ere  I  am  ware 
As  if  a  living  throb  of  my  own  soul, 
With  look  allaying  all  my  anguishes. 
She  comes  and  goes  by  no  authority 
Of  mine,  and  oft  when  least  expected ; 
Still  sweetest  welcome  give  I  to  her  presence. 
She  brings  to  me  a  draught  of  primal  Love 
Which  the  Creator  stirs  for  his  creation, 
The  first  affection  of  the  All  for  all. 
Amid  this  war's  fell  hate  and  battle's  fury 
I  often  feel  the  need  of  that  creative  Love, 
Love  of  all  love  which  made  the  universe. 
That  I  be  saved  from  mad  destruction's  fiend 
Engendered  by  the  strife  of  man  with  man. 


160     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

Then  o'er  my  longing  flits  that  maiden  form 
And  taps  for  me  the  heart  of  God  Himself 
When  He  has  seemed  cut  off  from  me  and  mine 
And  makes  it  flow  in  fresh  beatitude 
Upon  the  desert  of  the  time's  hostilities. 

And  yet  my  wedded  wife  knows  of  that  bond, 
She  heard  of  it  by  fame  before  our  nuptials, 
And  asked  me  once  about  the  tale  she  heard 
And  keeps  it  living  by  her  jealousy — 
She  hears  me  speak  the  name  within  my  dreams 
Which  bubble  up  the  secrets  of  my  underworld. 
Awake  I  cannot  always  keep  it  down, 
And  stay  it  still  in  my  unconscious  sea — 
Deepest  experience  of  all  my  days. 
When  death  transfigured  in  me  my  one  love 
From  its  eluded  mortal  counterpart, 
And  gave  it  back  as  an  eternal  Presence 
Breathing  the  benediction  from  above 
Which  fills  the  character  with  charity — 
I  felt  once  more  the  worth  of  life  on  earth. 
Now  partnered  with  the  purest  self  of  love. 

And  yet  that  doubleness  of  soul  I  feel, 

Two  forms  of  womanhood  dwell  in  my  life — 

A  mortal  one  and  an  immortal  too, 

A  lower  world  of  love  the  dutiful, 

With  it  an  upper  world  of  love  ideal! 


THE  BACKWOODS'  SAGE.  161 

Two  threads  of  man's  existence  at  its  best 

Stay  separate — and  I  must  still  endure 

Till  I  outdo  my  fate  on  earth,  imposed. 

Eternal  has  become  the  womanly 

For  me  in  a  transcendent  life  of  love, 

To  which  I  fly  or  else  it  comes  to  me 

By  some  unbidden  force  which  nature  prompts. 

Such  is  my  lot,  alas !  my  love  of  woman 

The  sacred  substance  of  all  human  worth 

Quintescence  of  man's  own  creative  being, 

It  is  in  me  divided  as  my  primal  curse 

Like  that  which  drove  poor  Adam  from  his  Eden. 

Still  I  must  love,  and  suffering  still  dare 

To  love  the  twain  who  rend  my  heart  atwain, 

And  make  each  throb  of  it  a  civil  war 

Which  turns  me  to  a  picture  of  Disunion 

Whose' seat  is  love  itself  within  itself. 

The  fount  of  the  Creator's  universe." 

Thus  Lincoln  told  upon  himself  again 
What  he  would  keep  most  hidden  from  himself, 
The  ever-bleeding  secret  of  his  heart, 
Though  it  would  bubble  up  betimes  to  light ; 
The  backwoods  statesman  mid  his  flinty  thought 
Had  mingled  tender  old  remembrances 
Which  smote  in  Lincoln  his  first  blow  of  Fate 
Again,  which  he  again  must  overmaster : 


162     LIXCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  IX. 

For  hark!  from  the  outside  repeated  shouts 
Come  rolling  over  him  in  revery, 
And  sternly  wake  him  up  to  what  is  here, 
The  duty  of  the  moment  staring  him. 
"Forward  to  Richmond"  is  the  omened  cry 
Which  falls  upon  his  shuddering  ears  untuned 
From  the  whole  North  unthoughted  of  the  stake, 
And  bids  him  start  the  march  and  bide  the  test. 


!00lv  ^tnt)^. 


The  Fatal  Line. 

"Forward  to  Richmond!  on  to  their  Capital! 
And  light  our  camp-fires  by  the  river  James ! ' ' 
So  sang  the  quick-stepped  regiments  in  line, 
And  cheering  trod  the  streets  of  "Washington, 
Then  crossed  Potomac's  petty  growl  of  wavelets 
Wrying  its  front  at  what  it  could  not  help ; 
Along  Virginia's  fields  and  streams  they  tramped, 
Printing  upon  her  lofty-featured  face 
The  People's  mark  of  heavy  soldier-shoes; 
From  all  the  North  too  rose  the  shout  ' '  Advance ! ' ' 
The  thousand-throated  Press  re-voiced  the  yell 
From  every  little  coign  within  the  land, 
And  from  the  cities  on  the  seaboard  strown. 
Loudest  and  farthest-reaching  was  the  cry 

(163) 


164     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

Editor  Greeley  shouted  to  the  People 
"With  many  a  streak  of  finding  many  faults, 
Wherein  he  crowned  himself  the  champion. 
Of  Lincoln  he  had  never  seen  the  worth, 
From  an  old  rivalry  in  leadership ; 
He  rather  thought  himself  the  greater  man, 
Likewise  he  deemed  he  had  within  himself 
The  better  stuff  for  making  Presidents. 

But  still  the  soldiery  kept  marching  on 

With  steady  tread  and  war-whoop  thunderous, 

Column  on  column,  dressed  in  lines  of  blue 

Vying  with  Heaven's  dome,  until  they  reached 

The  battle's  roar  at  Bull  Eun's  rivulet. 

Which  drew  the  fighting  line  between  the  foes. 

Upon  the  wi'inkled  face  of  old  Virginia. 

All  day  Report  which  from  the  front  sped  winged. 

Had  messaged  friendly  words  to  Washington; 

When  suddenly  came  shivering  on  the  air 

A  shriek  importunate  and  charged  with  dread: 

''Back  to  the  city!  save  the  Capital 

From  the  victorious  foe  now  in  pursuit ! 

Safeguard  the  President  before  too  late ! ' ' 

So  rolled  the  quaking  rumors  from  the  front 
Increasing  ever  in  reverberation 
Until  the  romided  welkin  seemed  to  yield 
Its  heights  to  mighty  hurly-burly 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  165 

Uprising  from  the  clash  of  earth  below. 
The  city,  still  expectant  of  good  news 
Which  had  unbroken  streamed  for  many  hours, 
Felt  the  quick  shock  as  if  the  coming  age 
Reversed  the  wheel  of  great  occurrences 
Suddenly  in  the  flow  of  History. 


Soon  roll  in  sight  the  waves  of  fugitives 

Over  the  river,  surging  through  the  streets — 

Affrighted  human  masses  rushing  onward, 

Who  never  turn  their  heads  around  to  see 

If  anybody  may  be  in  pursuit, 

But  quake  the  more  because  of  their  own  noise. 

And  run  the  swifter  from  their  very  running. 

Behold  the  Congressmen  in  flight  pell-mell 

Who  rode  out  for  a  happy  holiday 

To  see  the  play  of  easy  victory ! 

How  they  now  lash  their  horses  through  the  press 

Of  sweltering  bluecoats,  who  are  often  gunless, 

Aye  hatless  too,  so  great  is  now  their  hurry. 

No  rest  of  mind  is  possible  to-day 

Till  they  have  quit  Virginia's  blistering  soil 

On  which  they  trod  so  boldly  yesterday 

Thinking  to  end  the  war  in  one  short  fight 

And  so  fulfil  prophetic  Seward's  oracle. 

The  flood  gates  of  the  skies  flew  open  too, 

And  poured  an  elemental  deluge  down 

To  help  float  faster  still  the  roaring  mass 


166     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

Unto  the  roiled  Potomac's  bridge  of  sighs 
Which  eased  the  terror  of  the  fugitives. 
The  blue-coats  soaked  flow  down  the  Avenue, 
Hungry,  foot-weary  of  their  rapid  race, 
Scourged  by  a  power  to  them  invisible, 
Yet  all  the  more  it  wrought  their  fantasy. 
Soft-eyed  they  gaze  unwitting  of  their  prayer 
Up  to  the  Nation's  domed  Capitol 
As  to  their  overarching  Providence, 
"While  still  the  moody  rain  upon  their  cheeks 
From  frowning  skies  would  drizzle  sullenly. 
The  dauntless  host,  starting  in  boastful  glee 
To  sweep  across  Virginia's  guarded  hedge 
Onward  to  Richmond,  now  the  Capital 
Of  all  secession  and  her  own  as  well, 
Is  writhing  in  one  mighty  terror's  clutch 
Which  wrenches  everywhere  all  Washington, 
Leaderless,  almost  weaponless  with  fear. 

What  is  the  sign  ?    A  hand,  not  of  the  foe 

So  much  as  of  the  Power  over  all, 

Hath  seemed  to  interfere  with  grip  divine. 

The  soldiers  marched  up  to  a  certain  mark 

And  toed  it  firmly  for  a  while  in  fight, 

Then  felt  the  shock,  the  sudden  shuddering  shock 

Which  set  the  army's  bravest  heart  a-tremble, 

Not  from  without  so  much  as  from  within, 

As  if  a  God  had  smit  them  for  the  act 


THE  FATAL  LINE.         "  I67 

Which  had  in  it  the  curse  of  some  transgression. 
And  so  their  flight  seems  from  their  very  selves, 
Away  from  their  own  deed  along  Bull  Kun. 
Wagons  and  ambulances  full  of  wounded, 
Caisson  and  cannon  horsed  in  furious  speed, 
The  soldiers  wedged  together  at  the  bridge, 
Officers  trying  to  order  the  disorder. 
And  make  the  ruin  silent  and  respectable — 
Such  was  the  time's  return  to  primal  chaos. 
Steeds  took  the  panic,  snorting  with  a  plunge. 
Even  the  herd  of  cattle  felt  the  whiff  of  fate 
And  gave  a  horned  dash,  heads  down,  tails  up. 
Which  made  some  soldiers  run  a  little  faster, 
But  madded  more  the  Pandemonium. 
The  darky  driver  whipped  his  team  of  mules. 
With  eyes  bulged  out  and  curly  poll  unhatted 
Until  his  wagon  plunged  down  in  the  river. 
To  his  crazed  shout :  * '  The  spooks  are  after  us, ' ' 
Voicing  that  world's  phantasmagoria, 
Painting  on  his  black  face  demonic  terror. 

The  President  slept  not  a  wink  that  night. 

But  read  the  thickly  wafted  messages; 

New  sorrow  plowed  across  his  furrowed  face. 

As  the  disaster  grew  in  magnitude 

His  sunken  eyes  drooped  deeper  in  their  sockets. 

Sage  Seward,  who  had  learned  to  know  him  best. 

And  how  to  tap  the  spring  of  his  hid  thought, 


168     LINUOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

Making  it  flow  for  his  relief  mthin, 

And  get  it  in  the  deluge  of  affliction. 

Came  to  the  White-House  soon  to  give  support 

Their  tongues  spake  little  to  the  air, 

Their  souls  communed  the  better  in  the  silence, 

As  they  went  wandering  down  the  billowy  street 

To  see  the  surge  of  fleeing  soldiery. 

They  heard  the  imprecation  of  the  crowd. 

And  saw  the  faces  haggard  of  despair 

With  cry  repeated  hundredfold:  "We're  whipped. 

And  Hell  is  after  us — just  at  our  heels." 

Each  struggled  to  push  further  on  and  on 

As  if  he  strove  to  get  outside  himself 

With  all  his  might,  and  could  not  do  it  still. 

They  also  marked  some  features  gleamed  with  joy, 

Whose  owners  were  those  whispering  citizens 

Who  stood  at  corners  shoaled  in  twos  or  threes. 

Expecting  next  their  own  victorious  friends 

To  stake  a  camp  on  Presidential  grounds; 

And  even  neutral  faces  hitherto 

Would  teter  toward  the  other  side  in  smiles. 

At  last  the  two  soul-worn  pedestrians 

Sat  down  to  rest  upon  a  bench  alone; 

The  President  then  bowed  his  head  and  spoke: 

"Seward,  I  have  been  trying  all  these  steps 

To  delve  out  what  the  secret  bearing  is 

Of  this  defeat  and  the  calamities 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  169 

"Which  like  the  Furies  seem  to  fang  us  still, 

"Whatever  may  be  our  attempt  of  war. 

Young  Ellsworth's  pall  has  spread  itself  on  me 

While  our  reverses  thicken  as  the  clouds : 

Is  the  Almighty,  then,  against  our  cause  ? 

Or  is  our  ill  a  discipline  divine 

Unto  some  higher  end  we  know  not  of? 

If  so,  what  is  that  end  to  which  we're  scourged 

By  the  remorseless  Powers  over  us 

Until  we  do  the  deed  as  yet  undone  ? 

And  I  am  whelmed  to  ask  this  question  of  myself: 

What  is,  then,  evil,  and  who  uses  it 

To  force  compliance  mortal  to  his  Will?" 

Then  likewise  Seward  spoke  his  pensive  mood 

Though  to  another  key  he  tuned  his  word : 

"My  prophesying  I  shall  quit  to-day. 

And  play  no  longer  the  time's  oracle. 

Almighty's  voice  I  cannot  counterfeit. 

Three  months  I  said  at  first  the  war  would  last 

And  deemed  I  had  the  high  decree  forestalled, 

The  hour  is  up  and  war  has  Just  begun ; 

The  robe  prophetic  here  I  shall  lay  off. ' ' 

Whereat  unconsciously  he  tugged  his  lappet. 

But  Lincoln  was  too  rapt  to  think  a  smile, 
And  lapsed  again  into  his  troubled  vein: 
"What  is  the  bent  of  these  events  I  probe, 
And  who  directs  them  by  a  providence, 


170     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

Teasing  us  with  appearances  at  first 

Of  victory,  to  make  the  blow  more  heavy. 

Manassas  sent  an  early  note  of  triumph 

Then  trumped  the  scornful  counterblast  of  flight, 

As  if  our  arms  were  but  a  mockery; 

Is  the  great  Ruler  some  grim  humorist 

Who  spins  the  universe  in  irony, 

To  watch  our  woe's  grimaces  on  his  stage 

For  his  high  self's  amusement  cosmical?" 

But  Seward  is  not  mooded  to  such  strain, 

He  turns  gloomed  Lincoln's  look  to  contrast  new: 

* '  See  him !  here  comes  a  soldier  with  a  laugh 

As  if  he  were  enjoying  just  himself 

In  viewing  desolation's  comedy. 

The  only  placid  face  that  we  have  met : 

Alone  unscourged  by  demons  seems  his  gait. 

But  dodges  merrily  the  fiendish  flight; 

Fain  would  I  find  his  secret  for  us  both : 

'Tell  me,   my  man,  whence  come  you  and  what 

news?'  " 
The  bluecoat  leaned  against  a  post  in  peace, 
And  marked  his  words  M^ith  great  deliberation: 
"I  feel  not  here  at  home  because  I  have 
The  one  sole  pair  of  legs  that  will  not  run; 
The  reason  for  it  I  may  here  confess: 
My  luck  was  to  be  nipped  a  prisoner 
Soon  in  the  fight  by  a  gray-suited  squad; 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  171 

This  done,  the  rebel  lines  before  me  there 
Fled  in  a  panic  from  the  little  stream 
They  call  Bull  Run,  and  headed  swift  for  Rich- 
mond, 
The  Capital  of  their  Confederacy, 
And  never  thought  of  taking  me  along. 
Left  to  myself,  I  struck  the  other  way: 
I  simply  waded  through  some  shallow  water 
To  reach  our  men,  when  I  beheld  them  too 
Racing  with   all  their  strength   from   that   same 

stream 
And  headed  swifter  still  for  Washington, 
The  Capital  of  our  good  Nation  still. 
And  brave,  or  to  become  brave  yet,  I  hope. 
I  stood  sole  master  of  the  battle-field, . 
And  held  the  line  from  which  each  side  had  run, 
A  while  the  arbiter  of  North  and  South, 
A  little  God  I  feigned  me  of  World's  History, 
Until  I  caught  a  commissary's  donkey, 
And  rode  from  thence  in  peaceful  contemplation, 
Of  the  mad  wreck  of  Avar  strewn  everywhere. 
The  broken  vehicles  upset  and  ditched, 
Crackers  and  bacon  scattered  on  the  road, 
The  musket  bayoneting  gentle  earth. 
And  the  cocked  pistol  muzzled  in  the  mud, 
With  the  unownered  sword  of  officer. 
So  T  kept  straddled  till  I  met  the  guards 
Who  needed  beasts  and  then  I  gave  them  mine. 


172     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

I  have  just  crossed  the  bridge  flooded  above 

More  than  below,  to  take  my  promenade, 

To  see  if  I  can  see  what  is  to  be, 

Perchance  to  meet  the  Lord  who  can  command 

Again  this  chaos  fresh :  '  Let  there  be  light ; ' 

Perchance  to  run  across  our  President 

That  he  might  flash  this  scene  with  gleams  of  humor, 

Or  cap  it  for  me  with  a  pointed  story. ' ' 

Lincoln  rose  stirred  and  straightened  at  the  speech 
Of  that  blue-capped  buffoon,  so  sage  yet  clownish. 
Who  then  once  more  let  out  himself  in  mirth : 
' '  I  split  myself  teeheeing  on  the  way 
To  think  how  both  sides  like  two  silly  pups 
On  coming  face  to  face  with  swaggering  tails. 
Dropped  them  affrighted  at  each  other's  bark, 
And  yelping  ran  contrariwise  to  kennel. 
And  so  that  little  puddle  of  a  brook 
Appeared  possessed  of  some  weird  water-sprite 
With  charms  to  shoo  each  army  off  in  terror." 
Away  the  soldier  strode  still  with  a  laugh- 
At  what  he  deemed  the  merry  comedy 
Enacted  by  the  whole  United  States 
Just  for  himself  as  sole  spectator  there. 

Lincoln,  although  he  smiled  a  frank  good-bye, 
Had  keenly  felt  the  deeper  tragic  thrust 
Shown  in  the  folly  of  that  narrative ; 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  173 

He  rose  up  from  his  seat  and  walked  in  thought. 
Addressing  thus  his  minister  beside  him, 
Yet  talking  also  to  himself  within: 
"The  best  report  of  all,  most  luminous 
It  shines  its  meaning  on  my  soul. 
Methinks  I  spy  it  now  in  bloody  fact — 
That  line,  that  fatal  line,  whose  fiery  circle 
Spectral  Virginia  saw  enring  herself, 
Lit  by  a  mighty  Presence  from  above. 
When  she  appeared  once  yonder  in  the   White- 
House, 
And  bade  defiance,  not  to  me  alone, 
But  to  the  Power  swaying  both  of  us. 
That  phantom  line  now  flames  a  wall  of  fire. 
It  seems  to  me  to  blaze  the  boundary 
Between  the  two  embattled  ranks  of  war 
That  front  it,  bristling  guns  on  either  part: 
Which  side  can  cross  it,  break  it  down  perchance? 
This  first  fire-test,  this  battle  of  Bull  Run 
Proclaims  to  all  the  Nation,  neither  side: 
It  is  the  line  between  the  North  and  South, 
Between  the  Capitals,  our  own  and  Richmond, 
Between  the  Rivers,  James  and  the  Potomac, 
Between  the  going  old  and  coming  new. 
The  line  between  this  Union  and  its  death. 
The  Fatal  Line  of  bloody  separation 
Which  now  impassable  doth  seem  decreed; 
But  it  I  have  to  pass  compelling  Fate 


174     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

Which  strikes  me  back  red-handed  in  revenge 
When  I  dare  reach  the  consummated  goal; 
That  crimson  line  forewrites  my  tragedy." 

He  clapped  his  hands  before  his  anguished  look, 
When  Seward  spake  him  kindly  sympathy: 
"My  friend,  be  brave,  surrender  not  yourself 
To  that  grim  fiend  who  lurks  upon  3'our  path, 
Coiled  up  and  quick  to  spring,  snake  Melancholy, 
Encircling  in  black  folds  your  boding  heart — 
Anticipation  is  the  tempter  sly, 
The  devil  lurking  in  your  Paradise." 

Then  Lincoln  spoke  his  word  more  placidly. 
And  tuned  his  featured  face  to  his  reflection: 
"The  Nation's  task  it  is,  and  mine  therewith; 
I  see  it  well,  and  thus  present  it  to  me : 
Can  that  dead-line,  now  drawn  to  sight,  be  crossed, 
Or  turned  by  some  flank  movement  yet  unseen 
To  save  this  Union  from  its  mortal  rent? 
The  rebels  have  repulsed  our  first  offensive,  ■ 
Thrown  back  we  are  upon  our  self-defence, 
Deeper  than  ever  yawns  the  rifted  States 
Which  drooping  lie  around  in  dissolution. 
A  greater  effort  than  before  is  now  required 
To  save  from  ruin's  breach  our  Fathers'  work. 
Next  I  must  hearken  what  the  people  say. 
For  they  are  now  aware  of  this  disaster 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  I75 

Whose  news  has  sped  already  through  the  land, 
And  echoes  back  from,  the  remotest  bounds 
Unto  its  heart  which  is  this  Capital, 
Where    my    set    ear    must    catch    the    Folk-soul's 
throbs." 

Here  parted  the  two  friends,  each  went  his  way, 
The  President  sprang  up  his  mansion's  steps, 
And  hastened  to  his  office  anxiously, 
That  he  might  hear  the  answer  to  defeat 
Which  swelled  up  from  each  Northern  village 
And  rolled  in  volume  vast  to  Washington, 
Enkindled  with  a  resolution  new 
To  keep  the  Nation's  first  integrity, 
And  offering  their  strength  and  wealth  and  blood. 

But  still  there  rose  some  fresh  discordances, 
Old  party  lines  began  to  gape  again 
Under  new  leaders — Douglas  being  gone; 
But  Lincoln  held  to  his  great  policy 
Which  would  unite  his  side,  divide  the  other 
And  thus  maintain  the  Union  first  of  all. 
But  opposition  rose  in  his  own  party 
Just  from  this  policy  of  wise  forebearance, 
Since  some  rash  spirits  sought  to  batter  doAvn 
Slavery  as  foremost  cause  of  present  evils, 
Right  at  the  start  regardless  of  the  Union. 
To  such  the  President  set  forth  in  print 


176     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

A  document  of  reasons  for  his  course 
Which  too  the  People  read  and  gave  assent — 
Aye,  but  they  gave  more  than  mere  assent, 
They  gave  themselves  in  deeds  of  consecration. 

But  well  he  saw  in  his  foreseeing  soul 
The  fruited  time  was  ripening  speedily, 
When  he  would  have  to  grip  the  monster  black 
Of  servitude,  whose  life  lay  in  that  rift 
Between  the  States,  and  sword  it  mortally 
With  one  huge  thrust  of  Presidential  might — 
The  modern  Theseus  in  his  act  supreme 
Slaying  the  labyrinthine  Minotaur 
And  setting  free  the  victims  of  its  curse. 

Lincoln  had  flung  himself  upon  his  couch. 
That  teeming  couch  of  his  foreshadowed  life, 
From  which  he  gazed  up  at  and  read  his  stars, 
When  he  fell  into  musing  on  his  mood : 
*'Why  is  this  trial  sent  upon  me  here? 
The  plan  divine  I  grope  for  in  my  lot. 
And  glimpse  it  mazy  with  cross  purposes, 
With  thwarted  hope  I  live  and  love  undone. 
Yet  plainer  than  before  I  see  my  goal. 
But  not  the  where  or  how  or  when  to  be, 
Still  less  the  why  it  is  thus  as  it  is : 


THE  FATAL  LINE.  177 

Which  counsel  stays  untold  me  in  God's  bosom. 

And  yet  one  oracle  I  can  make  out 

Borne  on  the  spirit-wings  of  this  event: 

That  Fatal  Line  so  dreadfully  inscribed 

I  must  break  through  to  reach  my  destiny, 

Or  sweep  around  it  somehow  on  the  flank 

Getting  behind  it  by  a  long  detour 

Which  may  take  years — alas !  I  have  to  bleed 

Responsive  to  ensanguined  fantasy. 

Thou,  Bull  Run,  though  a  petty  stagnant  pool, 

Thou  hast  me  limned  my  labor's  boundary 

As  thy  sad  waters  blaze  up  suddenly, 

And  show  to  me  a  wall  of  living  fire 

Through  which  I  have  to  pass  ere  I  may  rest, 

Be  it  the  peace  of  life,  or  yet  of  death." 

So  Lincoln  brooded  on  that  blood-lit  line 
Which  wound  before  him  in  sad  imagery 
Through  meadows  of  Manassas  and  its  stream, 
Significant  of  what  was  yet  to  be, 
In  prophecy  of  battles  still  unfought; 
The  bound  it  lay  impressed  upon  his  Fate 
Which  he  has  to  surmount  to  save  his  world. 
And  then  himself  to  find  what  lies  beyond. 

While  thus  he  reveried  in  halved  hope 
Of  what  was  to  become  of  him  and  his, 
Another  portent  sinister  arose 


178     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  X. 

And  filled  his  field  of  vision  more  and  more 
With  its  new  problem  of  an  inner  breach 
Which  menaced  his  own  side  of  soldiery, 
So  deeply  had  the  rifted  time  been  graved 
Upon  the  souls  of  those  defending  Union. 


laah  ^kfaentl^. 


Lincoln's  Double  Dragon-Fight 

Sadly  had  come  the  sere  autumnal  months 
Of  the  year  eighteen-hundred-sixty-one ; 
Gloomy  they  overhung  the  hapless  Nation, 
And  yet  the  time  kept  thickening  gloomier 
Despite  attempts  to  lift  the  dreadful  pall, 
And  exorcise  that  spell  of  haps  infernal. 
The  effort  to  erase  the  Fatal  Line 
Which  rent  the  Union  into  warring  halves 
Seemed  but  to  make  it  deeper  all  its  length, 
As  if  they  could  be  welded  nevermore, 
And  overmake  the  land  into  one  Nation. 

But  now  another  rift  seems  opening 
Within  that  side  which  sought  to  close  the  breach 

(179) 


180     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

Secession  creeps  out  of  its  Southern  haunts, 
Trailing  across  its  public  boundary 
Slyly  into  the  Northern  armament, 
"Which  had  in  might  uprisen  to  put  it  down. 
And  starts  dividing  also  it  in  twain. 
Those  who  support  the  Union  and  its  cause 
Threat  new  disunion  of  their  side, 
Though  it  as  yet  be  but  a  secret  thought 
Of  the  two  leaders  highest  in  command, 
Perchance  unconscious  to  themselves,  yet  real — 
For  each  keeps  subtle  grasping  more  and  more 
Of  power  personal  unto  himself  and  his. 
Defiant  of  the  center  of  authority. 

Lincoln  beheld  and  watched  the  first  small  creak 

Which  had  kept  widening  out  into  a  chasm 

In  spite  of  all  his  kindly  remedies ; 

His  two  chief  Generals  have  now  become 

A  puzzle  to  him  in  their  purposes. 

Alone  he  lay  upon  his  couch  in  thought 

And  questioned  what  might  be  the  hidden  plan 

Fermenting  in  their  latest  words  and  deeds. 

Which  had  been  streaming  to  him  manifold 

Through  private  channels  and  the  public  talk. 

He  knew  the  military  character, 

Which  even  in  the  humblest  captaincy 

Trains  subtly  to  an  autocratic  sway, 

And  molds  the  mind  by  what  it  has  to  do. 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.         181 

From  thence  he  was  well  w^are  a  trouble  fresh 

"Would  rise,  and  with  it  also  duty  new 

To  save  free  civil  government  of  laws, 

And  keep  his  own  the  place  supreme  of  rule. 

From  both  headquarters  whispers  often  buzzed 

Of  a  dictatorship  by  soldiery, 

To  take  the  place  of  legal  Presidency — 

From  the  near  East  and  from  the  far-out  West, 

From  Washington  and  from  St.  Louis  schemed — 

To  wrest  by  might  the  scepter  of  supremacy. 

Lincoln  was  nodding  from  his  waking  world 

Into  a  slumberous  doze  of  hazy  horrors 

Which  flew  like  wraiths  along  a  borderland 

Of  skiey  cloud-wracks  fleeting  nebulous. 

Until  they  hardened  to  one  furious  shape 

Which  grew  to  be  a  dragon  of  two  heads, 

One  short,  one  very  long  in  its  outreach; 

With  both  of  them  he  had  to  wage  a  fight; 

One  after  the  other,  thrust  on  thrust 

They  darted  at  him,  for  it  fortuned  so 

Both  did  not  strike  together  in  their  blows 

As  in  a  joint  conspiracy  for  power. 

But  separately  each  would  grasp  it  all ; 

Nor  would  they  share  the  prey  between  themselves. 

Each  dragon  clawed  at  him  with  taloned  paw. 

Or  with  its  fanged  jaw  sought  to  snap  hold 

Of  just  his  single  head  and  hurl  him  down 


182     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

And  then  to  slip  into  his  vacant  seat; 

But  he  with  wit  alert  would  dodge  their  blows 

From  both  directions,  so  he  kept  his  place. 

Each  of  those  shapes  drew  after  it  a  tail 
Of  many  followers  like  to  itself, 
"Which  made  great  uproar  with  their  bellowing 
To  fright  into  their  ranks  the  anxious  People. 
Loudly  pretended  both  to  fight  the  rebels 
While  they  rebellion  nursed  within  their  hearts, 
Shunning  the  open  foes  in  war  embattled 
For  spinning  plots  against  authority. 
And  yet  that  dragon  had  a  function  true 
For  which  its  mighty  talons  had  been  given: 
To  cleave  the  foe  and  not  the  magistrate. 
Out  of  its  bellj  spat  up  fire  and  smoke 
"With  detonation  of  artillery, 
While  flashes  of  a  thousand  gleaming  swords 
Tongued  everywhere  around  it  menacing, 
And  myriads  of  muskets  marched  in  sheen 
To  sound  of  drum  and  fife  or  martial  brass. 
Then  countermarched  in  glittering  parade 
Up  hill  and  down,  across  then  back  again. 
Returning  to  the  spot  from  which  they  started, 
With  outlay  vast  of  semblance  military 
Making  a  large  round  zero  of  themselves: 
So  passed  the  precious  days  without  result, 
Although  revolt  stood  daring  them  to  fight. 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.         183 

Lincolu  himself  had  called  from  out  the  deep 

That  monster  for  a  work  of  magnitude 

Which  somehow  it  could  not  be  brought  to  do, 

But  rather  turned  its  secret  war  on  him 

Seeking  to  overtop  his  leadership. 

The  President  then  dreamed  himself  to  be 

A  soldier  holding  in  his  hand  a  sword 

Unscabbarded  and  ready  for  a  clash ; 

He  thought  to  cut  off  both  these  heads  at  once 

With  that  keen  weapon  of  his  might  supreme, 

Testing  the  edge  of  justice  on  the  beast. 

But  as  he  raised  his  arm  on  high  to  smite 
Those  hissing  dragon  heads  upreared  aloft, 
He  felt  a  hand  of  aught  invisible, 
A  grip  full  tense  which  held  him  from  his  blow, 
And  heard  thus  in  monition's  gentle  tone: 
* '  Hold  Lincoln !  that  is  not  the  better  way ; 
Cut  them  not  off  in  wrath,  though  much  incensed 
Thou  be,  and  justly  too,  for  their  ill  deeds. 
Beware  lest  thou  undo  that  dragon's  strength 
Which  is  to  meet  and  slay  rebellion  armed, 
When  thou  hast  found  a  higher  generalship. 
Wait,  and  thine  eyes  will  spy  a  wondrous  act — 
A  stranger  transformation  of  the  beast 
Than  ever  has  been  fabled  in  old  lore, 
How  Cadmus  slew  his  dragon,  then  sowed  its  teeth, 
Which  sprang  up  armed  men  with  mutual  slaughter. 


184     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

Letting  each  other's  blood  in  civil  strife. 
Spare  them  and  hand  them  over  to  themselves 
Each  will  bite  off  its  head  without  thy  sword 
If  thou  wilt  give  it  but  the  time  to  act — 
Let  it  unshape  itself  which  it  has  shaped." 

Then  Lincoln  looked  up  toward  the  startling  sound, 
Still  half  adream  among  his  waking  thoughts, 
And  voiced  himself  to  the  Invisible: 
"They  hold  me  weak,  those  dragon  Generals, 
And  think  to  grasp  and  wield  my  easy  power, 
Which   they   deem   drooping   piecemeal   from   my 

hands. 
Weening  they  need  but  stoop  and  pick  it  up. 
How  separation  runs  adrift  to-day 
Upon  the  much  perturbed  stream  of  Time ! 
The  inbreathed  air  contains  it  everywhere 
As  the  soul's  ozone  born  of  our  great  storm. 
With  lightnings  flashed  around  a  continent. 
Time  bids  that  I  defy  its  subtle  craft, 
And  smite  it  with  my  Presidential  mace. 
When  I  can  reach  it  still  among  mine  own. 
So  now  methinks  I  shall  snip  off  at  once 
Those  soldier  caps  tipped  on  two  dragon  heads, 
Which  yawn  secession's  chasm  within  my  ranks." 

Whereat  the  speaker  caught  the  sibilants 

Of  whispered  words  out  of  the  weird  unseen: 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        185 

''I  voice  once  more  thy  upper  guardianship: 

Let  those  twin  grisly  shapes  born  of  the  hour 

Undo  themselves  of  their  own  nullity, 

Then  cast  each  out  in  turn  a  self-slain  corpse, 

Though  living  still  as  individual. 

Besides,  thou  art  to  be  exemplar  new 

Which  shines  forth  universal  charity, 

Yet  with  the  wisdom  of  all  policy; 

So  stay  the  penalty,  though  due  it  be 

Aye  more,  think  not  revenge  against  the  foes 

Embattled  yonder  on  the  other  side. 

Thus  is  the  Nation's  whole  restored  in  thee 

The  first  of  all,  the  savior  President, 

From  whom  the  healing  balm  drops  to  the  future. ' ' 

The  voice  died  outwards  but  re-echoed  still 
The  waves  compassionate  on  Lincoln's  heart. 
"Whose  was  that  word  unsensed  except  of  soul. 
Yea  quite  unsyllabled  of  human  speech? 
So  he  kept  looking  at  himself  and  quizzed 
The  rapt  communion  with  what  is  above, 
When  of  a  sudden  he  bethought  himself: 
"That  dragon  of  the  West  comes  challenging 
My  exercise  of  last  authority, 
Dares  me  to  give  the  blow  decapitating. 
For  it  will  play  the  martyr  to  the  cause 
Flowering  from  emancipation's  bud." 


186     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XL 

While  still  he  lay  aswoon  upon  his  couch 
Quite  in  the  middle  of  his  fighting  dream, 
The  messenger  slipped  in  to  wake  him  up: 
"A  lady  from  St.  Louis  has  arrived" 
Said  he,  and  shook  the  dozer  to  a  stare; 
"She  has  to  see  you  right  away,  she  says." 
Lincoln  arose  and  rubbed  his  eyes  while  mumbling : 
"Another  dose  of  that  Missouri  mess; 
Its  factious  spirit  causes  me  more  trouble 
Than  all  the  other  States  if  put  together. 
Her  card — how  reads  it  1 — Jessie  Benton  Fremont ; 
I  have  already  heard  of  her  as  General 
Over  her  husband,  Major-General  Fremont, 
Whose  proclamation  I  have  just  revoked 
Emancipating  slaves  within  his  district; 
Well  I  must  see  what  sort  of  scene  she  makes. 
Some  training  I  have  had  to  stead  me  now. ' ' 

As  Lincoln  came  into  her  presence  scornful 

She  rose  and  spoke  in  haughty  dignity: 

"From  the  commander  of  the  Western  army 

Now  overruled  in  his  great  deed  of  freedom 

I  bring  an  answer  running  in  this  wise : 

He  will  not  even  modify  a  tittle 

To  suit  your  purposes  political 

That  noble  edict  of  emancipation 

Which  stirs  such  loud  response  in  loyal  hearts; 

Revoke  it  if  you  will,  but  he  shall  not." 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        187 

Then  Lincolu  after  musing  calmly  stated: 

"As  friend  I  would  advise  him  otherwise." 

The  woman's  hearty  wrath  broke  out  thereat: 

' '  Friend !  let  the  word  not  pass  your  lips  to  me ! 

You  are  no  friend  of  Fremont,  well  I  know  it — 

You  never  have  been,  always  you  have  sought 

His  ruin,  as  a  man  too  great  for  you, 

Listening  only  to  his  enemies; 

And  now  you  send  a  foe  to  spy  him  out, 

A  bitter  foe  from  your  own  cabinet, 

One  of  that  hostile  family  of  Blairs 

Who  wish  to  rule  St.  Louis  and  its  State, 

Yea  seek  to  make  their  favorite  son,  Frank  Blair, 

The  President  of  the  North- West  entire 

Ee-moulded  to  a  new  Confederacy, 

From  which  he  will  ascend  to  take  your  place." 

The  words  burst  forth  in  deepest  passion's  lurch, 

Which  Lincoln  answered  with  a  soothing  smile: 

''Tell  me  about  that — all  that  you  may  know; 

In  such  a  work  I  take  an  interest." 

The  wrathful  woman  still  kept  up  her  strain: 

' '  He  is  the  most  ambitious  man  I  know. 

The  lust  to  rule  is  his  though  ruin  fall. 

His  henchmen  everywhere  insinuate 

Their  hateful  speech  against  our  policies, 

And  you  give  ear  to  all  their  calumnies. 

But  hear  from  me  the  truth  at  least  for  once : 


188     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XL 

The  General  took  charge  of  vast  confusion, 

He  had  to  make  an  army  out  of  nothing, 

Suppress  corruption's  reek  at  every  nook 

And  root  up  treason  in  its  hidden  haunts. 

By  fiat  he  is  bringing  out  of  chaos 

A  world  of  order  new  to  be  the  Union; 

Huge  is  the  task  but  we  shall  do  it  yet, 

If  only  meddling  hands  will  keep  aloof 

From  here — this  central  point  of  interference. 

I  come  to  insist  that  Fremont  be  allowed 

To  use  authority  in  his  own  way, 

To  make  selection  of  his  ofiScers, 

Decreeing  what  he  deems  for  public  safety 

Without  officious  check  from  central  power, 

That  he  may  execute  his  grand  designs." 

Blandly  the  President  to  her  replied: 

''Authority  already  he  has  used, 

And  followed  his  own  will  in  what  he  did. 

As  if  he  were  the  monarch  absolute." 

How  the  high  lady  bristled  in  response ! 

"And  he  was  right  in  that — Fremont  was  right! 

But  now  I  come  again  to  the  main  point: 

His  final  message  I  have  brought  to  you: 

That  proclamation  of  enfranchisement 

He  will  not  mutilate ;  if  you  dare  do  it 

The  consequences  be  upon  your  head." 

''What  are  those  consequences  which  you  hint?" 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        189 

Asked  Lincoln  rising  from  the  easy  loll 

Upon  his  seat,  with  facial  muscles  tenser: 

But  Jessie  Benton  never  yet  had  quailed 

Before  the  shape  of  man,  nor  did  she  now, 

With  her  forefinger  pointing  admonition: 

"If  he  so  wishes,  for  himself  alone 

He  can  set  up  another  government; 

The  people  are  now  with  him  in  this  blow 

He  strikes  at  slavery,  source  of  all  our  trouble. 

The  North  will  flock  to  him  and  give  him  power, 

Besides,  he  has  a  band  of  followers 

Devoted  to  his  fortunes  personal. 

Who  would  not  fail  to  aid  him  at  the  test." 

Then  Lincoln  steadied  his  fixed  eyes  on  hers: 
"So  you  have  come  to  threaten  me  unless — " 
"I  am  the  daughter  of  the  mighty  Benton, 
Illustrious  Senator  for  thirty  years. 
Orator,  writer,  great  in  word  and  deed, 
Who  never  blanched  before  a  living  foe; 
Old  Tom  would  dare — would  fight  a  duel  too. 
And  so  would  I — his  blood  seethes  in  my  veins — 
I  claim  to  be  a  daughter  worthy  of  him, 
As  steel  strikes  sparks  from  steel — such  is  my  ans- 
wer. ' ' 

So  spake  the  dareful  woman  to  the  ruler 

Who  deemed  he  had  found  out  enough,  and  said: 


190     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

"Well,  leave  me  his  reply  which  you  have  brought 

And  it  shall  be  considered  at  its  time." 

Such  deference  did  only  rouse  her  more, 

She  thought  she  spied  a  weak-willed  President, 

And  so  she  gathered  wrath  for  last  attack: 

"I  shall  not  be  put  off  with  such  disdain, 

Say  to  me  now  what  you  intend  to  do, 

I  shall  not  go  away  with  empty  words, 

Insulted  for  my  absent  husband  here 

By  you,  the  President — give  me  your  answer." 

Then  Lincoln  straightened  up  his  lopping  look, 

And  over-towered  with  his  presence  lofty. 

Speaking  the  word  of  highest  majesty: 

"Madam,  the  State  can  never  let  itself 

Be  threatened  by  its  own  subordinate, 

Least  by  a  soldier  insubordinate. 

I  shall  myself  revoke  that  proclamation 

And  issue  it,  if  need  be,  through  myself. 

Who  am  the  Nation's  hand  to  do  such  act." 

"The  People's  execration  light  upon  you!" 

Hissed  there  a  Fury  at  him  who  replied: 

"I  am  the  People's  voice,  aye  too  their  will." 

He  turned  around  and  picked  a  letter  up : 

"I  had  expected  Fremont  to  refuse 

My  mild  request,  so  I  wrote  out  an  order — 

Here,  this  it  is — present  it  to  your  husband. 

My  messenger  has  rapped  and  I  must  see 

New  visitors — fair  journey  to  your  home." 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        I9I 

The  angry  woman  soon  had  whisked  herself 
Out  at  the  door,  when  Marshal  Lamon  was  an- 
nounced 
Bringing  another  note  from  mad  Missouri — 
A  Westerner  wild-eyed  but  sleek  for  once 
To  meet  in  Eastern  form  the  President. 

The  nodded  salutation  being  over, 

Lamon  began  to  address  his  care-faced  friend 

In  lowered  tones  of  a  secretive  voice, 

Quite  natural  to  that  subtle  officer 

Who  had  to  explore  the  underworld  of  crime, 

Especially  to  worm  through  in  the  dark 

All  the  laid  labyrinths  of  tortuous  trea'son; 

He  whispered  first  of  what  he  had  just  seen : 

"Madam  Fremont  I  noticed  passing  out. 

In  an  excited  flurry  dashed  she  by, 

I  deem  you  had  a  red-hot  interview. 

She  muttered  as  she  whirled  her  skirts  in  wrath 

'Incompetency  in  the  highest  places! 

What  lack  of  recognition  for  best  worth! 

I  give  this  drifting  Union  up  for  lost. 

The  only  man  to  save  it  is  now  thrown!' 

So  flew  she  out  not  saying  a  word  more; 

I  know  her — I  have  corresponded  with  her 

Upon  affairs  affecting  her  department, 

For  it  is  hers  as  to  the  inner  power, 

While  he,  the  husband  may  monopolize 


192     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XL 

The  outer  show  and  splendor  of  his  place 
"Which  she  allows  him  in  a  fair  division." 

Soon  Lincoln's  face  relaxed  from  austere  lines 

As  he  commented  on  what  he  had  heard: 

"Yes  Jessie  came  and  truly  gave  me  Jessie, 

So  that  I  cannot  wholly  blame  her  husband. 

She  issued  to  me  here  a  stern  command 

"What  I  should  do  on  pain  of  her  displeasure ; 

Her  words,  her  manner,  and  her  fists  implied 

That  her  Fremont,  if  minded  so,  could  seize 

The  strong  North- West  out  of  my  feeble  grasp ; 

Yea  the  whole  country  was  as  good  as  his. 

He  needed  but  reach  out  his  mighty  hand 

To  pluck  the  fruit  and  take  it  for  himself. 

I  let  her  run  ahead  in  angry  mood. 

As  she  told  much  that  I  would  gladly  know; 

Yea  I  provoked  her  to  keep  up  her  ire 

Giving  a  little  spur  if  she  might  lag. 

For  in  her  wrathful  talk  she  let  me  see     . 

Her  husband's  secret  spirit  of  ambition,  " 

"With  all  the  ruling  thoughts  at  his  headquarters. 

For  hours  she  kept  on  tap  her  hidden  heart. 

And  poured  me  out  its  treasures  at  first  hand ; 

The  half  I  never  had  before  suspected. 

The  best  detective  on  herself  she  came : 

Laraon,  in  your  own  line  she  has  excelled  you, 

Better  than  spies  is  her  own  espionage." 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE   DRAGON-FIGHT.         I93 

So  Sped  the  President's  free  narrative 

Until  he  turned  about  to  look  and  darted 

An  eye-shot  at  the  strange  Missourian, 

Who  caught  some  whispered  ravels  of  the  talk ; 

Him  graciously  the  Marshal  then  presented, 

And  started  for  the  door  in  worded  haste: 

"I  must  be  gone — later  I  shall  return — 

I  still  have  one  wee  word  to  tell  my  heart 

To  the  chief  magistrate — but  now  I  leave  you. ' ' 

Lincoln  surveyed  the  man  before  him  tensely, 
And  marked  the  pointed  flash  and  quick  which 

leaped 
And  pricked  out  of  the  easement  of  his  eyes ; 
The  huge  nose  overhung  was  notable, 
And  played  responsive  to  the  part  within; 
His  skin  was  browned  somewhat  to  coppery, 
For  he  had  lived  much  in  the  open  air. 
Chasing  the  deer  of  the  Missouri  woods. 
And  dwelt  a  cabined  hermit  by  himself. 
Shunning  the  highways  of  the  Time 's  mad  rush, 
Disdainful  of  the  man  who  civilized. 
And  so  he  came  to  grow  an  Indian's  look 
Companioning  alone  wild  Nature's  soul. 
In  deep  communion  with  her  lurking  world. 
The  President  had  scanned  his  jutting  features 
And  jotted  him  as  an  original, 
Autodidact,  perchance  autochthonous, 


194     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

Man  primitive  emerged  from  Western  wilds: 

In  gentle  tones  of  homely  courtesy 

Lincoln  could  not  forbear  a  bantering  twitch: 

' '  What  news  from  your  part  of  the  land,  my  friend  ? 

And  still  let  me  foresay  you  are  yourself 

To  me  already  a  prime  piece  of  news; 

Now  I  would  hear  you  voice  your  personage." 

The  stranger  tokening  the  friendly  word, 
Shot  full  his  eye-beams  from  his  luminaries, 
Lipping  his  fluid  accent  strangely  mixed 
Between  a  backwoods  English  and  Low-German, 
Yet  veined  with  gold  of  flashing  fantasy: 
"From  out  my  holy  log-house  hermitage 
Nestled  amid  the  ancient  trees  and  hills 
I  come  lured  by  the  call  importunate 
Which  shrieked  my  country's  prayer  for  Heaven's 

help 
To  me  within  my  humble  hut  remote 
Where  I  was  wooing  days  of  solitude, 
Communing  with  the  Self  omnipotent 
Which  is  at  once  the  All  and  I  myself." 
Lincoln  felt  foundered  at  the  mystic  speech. 
The  more  because  it  grazed  his  deepest  life, 
The  underworld  unplummeted  by  sense. 
The  great  uncouth,  however,  did  not  pause 
At  such  a  daring  plunge  of  human  mind 
Down  to  the  bottom  of  the  Universe, 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        195 

While  ou  his  burning  cheeks  the  sparkles  snapped 

And  tipped  his  nose  with  gleams  of  irony. 

The  reason  of  his  errand  he  bespoke: 

"Well  do  I  know  my  strangeness  in  this  world! 

I  read  such  printed  lines  upon  your  face, 

That  they  retort  to  me  your  most  hid  soul, 

And  speak  your  smile  which  you  forbear  to  show. 

But  I  shall  break  at  once  into  my  task : 

I  bring  some  letters  from  my  friend,  Frank  Blair, 

Who  is  the  Genius  local  of  our  cause 

In  the  great  fluvial  city  of  our  West, 

And  taps  the  secrets  of  the  plotting  heart 

Which  meditates  far  down  the  public  dole 

Perchance  itself  not  ware  of  what  it  is. 

His  message  is  in  brief:  Trust  not  Fremont. 

I  heard  that  same  suspicion's  whisper  here 

Between  you  and  the  Marshal  ere  he  went. 

And  it  has  slyly  crept  through  all  the  land, 

Troubling  the  many  patriotic  minds  who  brood 

The  outcome  of  imperious  soldiership 

Which  has  been  conjured  up  to  slay  the  fiend 

Rebellion,  which  now  flaps  its  vampyre  wings 

And  sucks  the  blood  of  all  our  youth  most  choice 

Who  have  responded  to  their  country's  hope. 

And  yet  behold  the  repercussion  strange: 

Secession  glances  back  into  our  ranks 

The  very  blow  outthrust  to  smite  it  down. 

We  catch  the  plague  which  we  would  medicine. ' ' 


196     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

The  man  made  pause  to  give  a  look  at  Lincoln 
That  he  might  read  the  feature- writ  response; 
When  the  quick  President  snapped  up  the  word: 
"I  see  that  you  have  ideas  of  your  own  to  tell, 
Gossamered  subtly  in  the  nets  fine-spun 
"Which  catch  philosophy  the  exquisite: 
Interpret  this  Fremont,  his  character. 
Philosophize  me  what  he  is — ^his  soul." 

The  stranger's  face  pulled  on  its  wisdom's  mask, 

To  speak  with  gravity  the  saws  of  sage : 

*'Just  what  I  came  so  far  to  tell,  you  ask. 

First  in  his  columned  traits  I  would  set  down: 

He  is  by  genius  the  adventurer 

Who  loves  to  make  a  dash  to  the  unknoAvn, 

And  tamper  with  the  unexpected  turn, 

Gambling  his  stake  away  for  novelties. 

He  fits  much  better  into  nature's  wilds, 

Than  into  settled  order  of  the  law. 

As  he  surprised  Sierran  solitudes, 

So  would  he  now  bedaze  the  peopled  State  " 

And  charm  it  with  emprises  venturesome, 

As  if  he  were  the  first  and  only  one. 

Absolved  from  all  authority  above. 

Romancer  is  he  in  his  farthest  soul. 

And  well  he  knows  how  to  romance  himself. 

Encircling  round  his  head  the  aureole 

Of  the  romantic  hero  of  the  West 


LINVOLN'8   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        I97 

To  brain-crack  smit  by  glamour  of  his  spell. 

And  yet  his  magic  shuns  the  feats  of  arms, 

Undeeding  him  to  flights  of  fantasy; 

A  hero  unheroic  he  in  war 

A  conqueror  without  a  victory. 

I  have  to  think,  in  his  exploits  and  speech, 

Of  my  old  friend,  of  Latin  origin — 

As  is  Fremont — Don  Quixote  de  la  Mancha." 

Lincoln  looked  trickling  out  his  teehee  tender, 
Meeding  the  Spanish  knight  of  writ's  renown, 
Then  plumped  his  mite  into  the  narrative : 
' '  Ay  yes !  I  see  the  Teuton  in  you  still, 
With  his  old  grudge  'gainst  Rome 's  great  centuries. 
Although  imported  over  cleansing  seas; 
And  in  your  accent  I  can  hear  his  echo. 
But  never  mind — more  speedy  be  our  sail — 
Though  still  one  poignant  fact  I  must  declare: 
I  voted  for  Fremont  not  five  years  since 
To  be  the  President  of  these  United  States, 
Now  to  such  port  I  have  arrived  myself." 

The  answer  waited  not  another  tick 

But  struck  the  chime  upon  the  tonguey  bell: 

"Next  let  me  pop  outright  the  pregnant  word: 

Fremont  is  sure  he  ought  to  have  your  place, 

The  Presidency,  so  think  his  followers. 

To  be  more  loyal  to  himself  he  trains  them 


198     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

Than  to  the  Union,  which  they  care  not  for, 

And  M'hich  indeed  they  do  not  understand, 

As  they  are  foreigners  of  Europe's  birth 

And  character  and  speech,  or  mostly  so; 

Soldiers  of  fortune  ready  for  the  boldest  stroke, 

Many  are  outlawed  from  their  homes  abroad, 

Adventurers  from  California's  early  days 

Whom  Fremont  knew  when  he  was  in  that  State, 

Living  and  loving  a  life  of  violence; 

He  acts  as  if  he  were  the  monarch  sole 

Already  in  his  castle  fortified. 

Which  is  surrounded  by  his  sentinels 

Watching  at  every  corridor's  approach; 

I  sometimes  saunter  round  his  marbled  mansion. 

In  which  his  quarters  rise  palatial ; 

I  feel  me  in  a  royal  atmosphere, 

In  presence  of  some  old-world  satrapy, 

While  every  tongue  drops  broken  accents  strange, 

Till  I  run  off  from  discords  of  my  ear." 

Here  stopped  the  speaker's  voice  as  if  he  heard 
In  his  own  tones  the  brogue  reproving  brogue, 
And  Lincoln  listened  to  it  smilingly 
To  hear  the  battle  of  the  broken  words, 
Which  jolted  through  the  native  idiom; 
Whereat  he  threw  a  sentence  in  the  gap : 
"I  like  your  accent,  though  it  be  not  ours. 
Upholding  what  is  ours  against  itself. 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        I99 

Now  tell  me  more  of  your  philosophy 

"Which  spins  the  fine  Fremont  in  his  cocoon." 

The  man  picked  up  the  thought  and  thus  went  on: 

"No,  not  a  citizen  can  ever  reach  him 

To  gaze  the  presence  of  his  majesty, 

So  thickly  layered  round  about  him  there 

Are  placed  his  guardsmen  to  enclose  his  person 

From  vulgar  spial  and  speech,  as  in  the  Orient 

Where  is  the  sway  of  despot  absolute. 

When  he  goes  forth  a  numerous  body-guard 

With  gorgeous  trappings  circles  him  in  state; 

He  now  distributes  to  his  favorites 

The  offices,  and  farms  commissions  out 

For  friends,  and  contracts  marts  for  followers, 

Makes  even  generals  by  his  own  fiat. 

He  plays  already  the  grand  autocrat. 

Having  his  court  and  royal  flatterers; 

He  tolerates  no  hero  but  himself — 

Lyon  he  let  be  sacrificed  unhelped 

Whose  lofty  deeds  he  nagged  at  enviously, 

Who  famous  stood,  he  deemed,  blocking  his  way." 

Then  Lincoln  interjected  a  quick  word: 
"I  question  that  view  of  the  case  in  hand. 
It  were  short-sighted  beyond  reason. 
But  tell  me,  have  you  no  report  from  Blair 
Who  ought  to  know  best  his  own  city's  need? 
I  would  be  glad  to  hear  what  he  intends ; 


200     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

Of  all  Fremont's  opponents  he  is  center, 
Between  them  has  arisen  frenzied  strife, 
For  each  is  not  without  a  love  of  power. 
And  each  would  rule  the  other,  but  cannot, 
Whereat  they  fly  apart  in  desperate  encounter. 
Whose  fury  hunts  me  here  in  Washington." 

The  man  then  rose  as  tall  as  Lincoln's  stature, 

Made  a  grimace  enforced  by  gesture  quaint, 

And  in  a  dialect  of  fiery  fragments 

With  elemental  lightning  from  his  eyes 

Which  lit  Titanic  brimstone  for  a  moment. 

He  hurled  his  sentences  of  broken  English 

Until  he  calmed  down  to  his  fluent  vein : 

"I  am  the  friend  of  Blair  and  know  the  man. 

He  has  a  gift  which  fathoms  deepest  plans 

Instinctively  when  hostile  to  the  State. 

A  genius  goes  with  him  political 

Which  whispers  to  him  hidden  strategems, 

The  possibilities  of  treasonous  deeds 

Ere  they  be  done  outright  or  even  thought  of. 

I  tremble  at  him  when  I  list  him  probe 

The  plots  which  lurk  within  a  character. 

And  hark  him  prophesy  what  is  to  be. 

All  this  is  merely  to  foresay  to  you, 

That  Blair  suspects  Fremont's  fidelity. 

Believes  him  prone  to  seize  the  civil  power 

If  opportunity  hit  time  aright. 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        201 

Has  he  not  tried  to  pluck  what  is  not  his, 

As  fruitage  of  his  military  title? 

More  perilous  will  grow  this  hid  revolt 

Than  the  wide-open  one,  if  not  soon  nipped; 

'Tis  time  to  smite  with  power  ultimate 

The  monster  of  two  heads  reared  East  and  West, 

Which  threat  division  of  our  own  one  side 

Whose  unity  is  the  sole  hope  of  Union ; 

0  President,  decapitate  the  dragon." 

The  stranger  shot  out  of  his  eye  eonstringed 

A  lightning  like  the  frantic  basilisk 

As  if  he  would  himself  the  horror  pierce 

Somewhere  above  him  darkly  hovering; 

So  for  one  glance  he  demonized  his  face, 

Which  then  calmed  back  into  its  first  serene. 

But  Lincoln  felt  a  shiver  chill  him  furrowing 

Along  his  stature  from  the  toe  to  crown, 

And  bristle  up  the  roots  of  his  stiff  hair, 

When  he  had  heard  this  strangest  of  all  strangers 

Thus  reproduce  the  monster  of  his  dream. 

The  very  ghost  of  his  imagination, 

Which  he  had  weened  the  fiction  of  his  soul. 

Meanwhile  the  wordful  man  again  had  tapped 
The  philosophic  fountain  of  his  brain 
Which  shot  up  speeches  darkly  metaphored: 


202     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI. 

"Metliinks  the  Universe  will  now  divide 

Cleaving  itself  in  fresh  creative  act, 

As  once  it  rose  new  Cosmos  out  of  Chaos, 

The  time  is  strange,  Secession  rides  the  air. 

Like  the  world-slashing  Norn  of  fabled  fate, 

Not  only  in  the  South,  but  in  our  North 

Which  shows  a  bent  to  split  up  into  sections. 

The  entire  country  is  centrifugal 

In  this  wild  whirl  of  mighty  revolution. 

Fremont  has  felt  the  time  and  seeks  to  be 

Its  pivot-turning  representative. 

But  you,  0  President,  have  double  duty. 

To  put  down  both  these  sorts  of  separation: 

That  is  to  be  your  place  in  history. 

With  whose  supernal  Presence  now  you  dwell. 

And  since  I  have  been  here  in  Washington 

I  find  this  seed  of  Northern  separation, 

With  the  attempt  to  wrest  the  civil  power. 

On  the  Potomac  as  on  the  Mississippi, 

Out  of  your  hands,  if  you  will  not  hit  home.  - 

How  many  times  I  caught  that  whispered  word 

Dictatorship,  while  strolling  on  the  streets. 

Lolling  at  the  hotels,  in  the  saloons. 

Mid  mingled  groups  of  busied  citizens, 

Or  as  I  strayed  through  camps  of  soldiery? 

Look !  both  these  gullets  gaping  for  your  head 

Right  here  and  yonder  too  you  must  encounter! 

Now  split  the  double  throat  of  that  danTned  dragon. ' 


LINCOLN'S   DOUBLE   DRAGON-FIGHT.        203 

Lincoln  stood  startled  at  the  stinging  words 

Which  tallied  ghastly  with  the  picture  of  his  dream ; 

He  wondered  at  the  man  whose  waking  soul 

Had  streamed  into  one  secret  channel  with  his  own ; 

But  he  recovered  from  his  lorn  surprise 

And  spoke  a  placid  word  unto  the  man: 

''Let  me  then  fortify  you  with  a  thought, 

Ere  you  return  to  tell  your  stewardship. 

I  have  revoked  to-day  the  proclamation; 

"With  this  keen  pen  I  stabbed  the  ravening  gorge. ' ' 

The  stranger  loosed  the  features  of  his  face 
As  if  in  great  relief  from  inner  strain ; 
He  took  his  hat  and  started  for  the  door, 
Saying,  "I  must  be  off  this  very  tick 
Of  time's  huge  liorologue  now  tolling  troubles, 
Which  hence  will  echo  madly  through  the  land; 
I  must  be  where  I  can  some  help  extend 
And  try  to  barrier  out  the  rising  flood." 
Whereat  the  man  pressed  on  his  shapeless  felt 
Over  his  long  barbaric  wires  of  hair 
Which  danced  in  tangled  twirls  down  to  his  shoul- 
der, 
As  he  but  gave  a  solitary  nod 
Turned  more  within  than  outward  to  the  light. 
He  sprang  across  the  sill  upon  the  world, 
Yet  from  his  haste  he  shot  back  one  more  oracle: 
"The  outfought  fight  is  here  not  to  be  won." 


204     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XI. 

Thus  sped  the  stranger  to  the  darkened  future 
Behind  whose  curtain  seemed  to  syllable 
Those  final  words  of  his  while  vanishing 
Into  the  distant  void  of  silent  space. 
Lincoln  stood  balancing  their  double  sense 
When  he  lopped  to  his  couch  of  revery 
And  duly  tapped  a  fresh  soliloquy : 
"I  ween  to  glimpse  my  seer's  prophetic  sight, 
Preluding  in  myself  what  he  predicts. 
Fremont  I  know  has  voiced  the  magic  word 
Which  sends  its  cry  to  Heaven — emancipation, 
And  thrills  the  folk  responsive  East  and  West, 
Though  many  lag  along  the  Southern  border. 
That  word  is  mighty  too  within  myself 
And  makes  me  throb  to  love  of  liberty, 
Which  is  man's  heart-beat  for  his  Paradise 
Though  never  lost  yet  ever  to  be  won. 
I  well  can  see  the  hour  runs  hitherward 
When  I  shall  have  to  seal  from  highest  place 
As  the  whole  Nation's  act,  this  very  edict. 
But  now  I  dare  not  step  so  far  ahead, 
To  challenge  all  the  future  in  a  minute, 
It  would  still  further  disunite  our  people, 
We  cannot  cross  the  flood  ere  it  be  reached. 
I  have  to  wait  till  time  builds  up  our  faith 
Which  now  is  daily  marching  to  its  goal 
That  only  the  free  Union  can  be  saved, 
Made  worthy  of  the  bloody  sacrifice. 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE  DRAGON-FIGHT.        205 

So  I  reject  this  act,  not  ripened  yet 

"With  the  full  season  of  the  folk's  conviction, 

Though  it  has  taught  me  lore  which  I  shall  treasure, 

And  made  me  hear  awakened  echoes  far 

Which  time  the  tread  of  measures  coming  on 

And  tune  the  overture  of  History. 

E'en  if  I  quench  in  clouds  this  little  comet 

Which  is  a  gleam  out  of  a  distant  world. 

But  rays  its  only  sheen  from  borrowed  light, 

The  Nation's  full-orbed   Sun  emancipated 

I  shall  install  forever  bright  on  high 

Bounding  its  course  obedient  to  law, 

When  I  first  glimpse  its  morn  crepuscular 

Flashing  the  day  ahead  up  the  horizon. 

Fremont,  for  this  I  shall  thee  not  depose, 

Despite  thy  wrong  against  the  Nation's  headship, 

I  leave  thee  still  intact  of  rightful  power. 

Enough  to  make  or  yet  unmake  thyself. 

But  mark !  I  cannot  help  removing  thee 

When  thou  hast  by  thine  act  removed  thyself; 

I  have  to  re-enact  thy  fatal  self 

And  stamp  thereby  my  seal  upon  thy  freedom, 

T^  thou  in  doing  still  art  self-undone." 

There  Lincoln  ceased  in  some  unspoken  thought 
Which  writ  relief  across  his  furrowed  front. 
But  only  for  a  moment,  when  he  clouded 
To  a  fresh-featured  scowl  at  aught  he  saw 


206      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XL 

And  broke  once  more  to  solitary  talk : 

"I  do  forget — wandering  in  my  West 

And  playing  with  the  future  in  my  dreams 

I  lapse  from  what  most  presses  me  just  here 

"Where  still  the  other  dragon-head  uprears 

And  menaces  a  longer,  harder  fight. 

But  the  two  monsters — so  I  comfort  me — 

Cannot  co-operate  to  the  same  end, 

E'en  if  they  coalesce  in  common  hate 

Of  me  as  of  their  rightful  overlord. 

Fremont  outruns  old  Time  in  a  wild  race 

To  pluck  the  apples  of  Hesperides, 

Ere  they  have  ripened  into  golden  fruit, 

Romancing  all  the  future  to  himself, 

As  hero  hoar  of  deeds  adventuresome, 

Outfabling  feats  of  antique  Hercules 

Who  slew  the  snake  in  guard  of  Paradise. 

But  ah!  M'Clellan  looks  the  other  way. 

He  faces  backward  for  his  ideal  world, 

And  clings  to  the  traditioned  elder  past, 

Which  he  will  re-instate  though  it  be  dust. 

And  keep  the  Nation  slaved  to  its  own  chains 

When  they  have  rusted  off  quite  of  themselves. 

I  cannot  make  him  quick-step  with  the  Now, 

He  quails  in  horror  from  the  Present's  face 

As  if  it  were  a  Gorgon  in  its  glance 

Which  turns  him  into  stone  stock-still  at  once, 

And  makes  him  shrink  back  from  the  Fatal  Line 


LINCOLN'S  DOUBLE   DRAGON-FIGHT.        207 

As  it  might  be  his  own,  his  very  self, 
So  that  he  cannot  move  a  step's  advance 
When  it  but  dawns  within  his  vision's  soul. 
And  still  he  dragon-like  snaps  back  at  me, 
And  will  engorge  all  in  his  soldier's  power, 
Dreaming  the  word  forbid — dictatorship. 
Yet  I  shall  utilize  him  in  his  worth — 
"What  is  that  noise — a  rap  at  this  late  hour? 
It  strikes  dark  emphasis  upon  my  thought ! ' ' 


i00h  Cixrjelftl^, 


The  Fightless  Dictator, 

Soldier. 
Is  that  the  White-House  stretched  out  yonder 
beneath  the  fitful  half -moon's  clouded  face? 

Watchman. 

It  is,  my  patriotic  friend,  for  such  I  may  salute 
you  by  your  uniform.  Night's  noon  has  struck, 
but  you  can  note  that  the  President  is  still  at  work 
by  the  small  stream  of  light  pouring  hitherward 
out  of  his  chamber  window. 

Soldier. 

"Would  he  were  not  so  busy  with  our  army  at  the 
front,  paralyzed  by  too  much  interference  from 
Washington !  Then  what  delay  in  sending  us  more 
men  and  better  equipment!  Our  needs  are  sadly 
neglected. 
(208) 


THE  FIGHT  LESS  DICTATOR.  209 

Watcliman. 

Yes,  that  is  M'Clellan's  ever-growing  shout, 
more  soldiers,  more  materials!  Why  does  he  not 
do  something  with  what  he  has?  Parade  and  pa- 
rade, day  in  day  out,  capped  with  the  building  of 
more  forts  for  defence !  Always  getting  ready,  hut 
never  getting  there! 

Soldier. 

"We  all  love  M'Clellan,  love  him  more  than  we 
do  Lincoln.  He  ought  to  he  yonder  at  the  other 
end  of  this  little  streak  of  light,  and  then  there 
would  be  a  sunburst.  Perhaps  he  will  reach  there 
some  of  these  days. 

Watchman. 

Pass  on,  do  not  loiter  here,  go  to  youi*  quarters. 
You  are  not  wanted  on  this  beat. 

Soldier. 
A  word  more,  and  that  word  is  still  M'Clellan. 

Watchman. 
Enough   of   your   idle    camp-gossip ;   besides,    I 
have  something  which  weighs  down  my  heart,  and 
which  I  must  look  after  at  once.    Move  on! 

Soldier. 
(Going.)      Glad  to   get  out  of  this  hole.     To- 
morrow I  shall  see  dear  Little  Mac  again,  as  he 
dashes  by  with  his  glittering  staff  before  his  sold- 


210     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XII. 

iery's  eyes  at  the  grand  review.    The  greatest  man 
of  the  time,  the  rest  seem  pigmies  beside  him. 

Watcliman. 

(Alone.)  Happy  riddance,  for  my  soul  sinks 
with  a  heavier  mill-stone  than  even  M'Clellan's 
inertia.  A  new  attempt  to  murder  the  President, 
whom  I  love !  This  air  is  full  of  daggers  of  as- 
sassination, the  blades  at  times  gleam  to  me  in 
the  lamplight,  then  they  scabbard  themselves  in 
the  dark.  Or  is  it  my  fancy!  Two  nights  ago  I 
heard  a  couple  of  suspicious  fellows  hatching  a 
plot ;  when  they  saw  me  come  out  of  cover,  they  ran 
and  escaped  in  the  shadow  of  the  bushes.  I  would 
give  my  life  for  Lincoln ;  I  represent  the  People 
too,  their  love  for  their  President.  But  I  am  afraid 
the  murderer  will  reach  him  yet,  he  is  so  careless 
of  his  own  protection.  I  must  walk  into  the  White- 
House  here  and  unburden  my  heart.  This  is  the 
spot  where  he  knows  my  rap. 

Lincoln. 
(Enters.)  Welcome,  my  faithful  guardian.  I 
judge  by  your  close-drawn  anxious  face,  that  you 
come  bringing  me  a  new  detective  story.  I  en- 
joy such  even  if  I  have  to  be  the  hero  of  the  plot. 
I  acknowledge  there  is  enough  reality  in  it  to  make 
it  exciting.  Still  I  cannot  see  what  anybody  can 
gain  by  killing  me.     Why,  the  rebels  seem  to  re- 


THE  FIGHTLES8  DICTATOR.  211 

gard  me  even  as  an  advantage  to  their  cause.    But 
speak  it  out — what  have  you  uncovered  now? 

Watchman. 

You  know  I  have  volunteered  this  work  without 
your  asking,  and  at  first  without  your  knowing.  I 
come  again  to  warn  you  to  take  better  care  of  your- 
self. There  is  a  plot  to  assassinate  you  some 
evening  while  you  ride  out  alone,  as  your  habit  is 
when  you  go  to  the  Soldier's  Home.  Have  you 
seen  no  sign  of  it? 

Lincoln. 

I  confess  I  saw  a  flash  and  heard  the  crack  of  a 
gun,  but  the  bullet  whizzed  by  harmless,  and  old 
Sorrel  leaped  for  life.  So  I  escaped,  as  has  hap- 
pened before,  doubtless.  I  tell  you  my  fixed  im- 
pression :  my  death  is  not  for  me  now,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  ill-fortune ;  when  my  luck  turns,  then  you 
can  look  out  more  sharply;  I  am  proof  against 
Fate,  till  the  victory — and  that  is  not  in  sight  just 
as  present. 

But  here  comes  the  Marshal  who  has  charge  of 
rascaldom,  and  with  him  I  must  confer.  Good-by, 
my  devoted  protector,  your  affection  touches  me, 
yea  heals  me,  and  you  must  come  again,  and  show 
it  for  my  need.  I  repeat  it,  you  have  done  me  a 
service  in  coming  to  me  and  showing  me  this 
kindness. 


212     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XII. 

The  Marshal. 
Strange  fellow  that!  a  detective  on  his  own  ac- 
count, out  of  pure  love  for  you  which  indeed  we  all 
feel.  But  I  must  now  tell  you  frankly  that  you 
are  to  have  a  guard  of  cavalry  to  accompany  you, 
when  you  take  a  jaunt  out  along  lonely  roads — 
we  have  had  warning  enough  recently.  You  have 
refused  such  escort  hitherto,  but  to  do  without 
it  in  the  future  is  fatuous.  I  shall  not  try  to  pro- 
tect you  longer  in  this  way  of  neglect — I  shall 
rather  throw  up  my  office,  for  I  can  do  no  good 
and  shall  get  only  blame.  If  you  keep  courting 
Fate,  she  will  some  day  accept  your  invitation, 
however  much  I  may  try  to  keep  you  apart. 

Lincoln. 
My  dear  friend,  not  so  hot;  you  can  have  your 
way.  You  are  commander-in-chief  over  me  and 
I  shall  obey.  Send  your  squad  this  evening ;  I  grant 
I  have  had  some  convincing  experience  recently. 
I  may  shun  a  few  flying  fragments  of  Accident, 
though  I  cannot  evitate  the  inevitable.  You  may 
bulwark  me  somewhat  against  the  Devil,  but  not 
against  the  Lord.  Send  on  your  little  buffer;  it 
will  do  some  good,  as  it  will  comfort  you. 

The  Marshal. 
Very  well  so  far;  but  I  come  to-day  for  an  ad- 
ditional purpose.    We  need  not  go  to  the  West  in 


THE  FIGHTLE8S  DICTATOR.  213 

order  to  find  germinating  the  idea  of  dictatorship, 
of  which  you  heard  not  long  since.  We  have 
right  here  in  Washington  that  same  perverted 
notion  in  a  military  chieftain.  It  is  a  sprout 
which  grows  out  of  the  time.  This  vast  array  of 
soldiery  seems  to  waken  everywhere  the  feeling  of 
arbitrary  power  in  the  highest  officers,  that  is,  the 
military  officers,  which  however  we  must  keep 
nourishing  and  even  augmenting.  Strange  is  the 
spell;  the  Titan  we  have  called  up  to  lay  revolt, 
takes  a  strain  of  revolt.  And  I  am  getting  to  think 
that  some  of  our  civil  functionaries  may  not  be 
exempt. 

Lincoln. 
I  know  well  what  you  are  mything ;  I  have  heard 
much  of  that  fabled  monster,  and  I  have  felt  him 
more. 

The  Marshal. 
Let  me  then  speak  straight  out :  our  General  has 
opened  two  kinds  of  head-quarters,  one  over  yon- 
der in  the  army,  and  one  here  in  the  city,  the  po- 
litical. 

Li7icoln. 

You  signify  M'Clellan,  the  new  Grand  Sachem 

of  many  feathers;  I  too  have  been  watching  him, 

often  going  to  his  house  here  and  to  his  quarters 

in  the  field.    We  have  also  summoned  him  to  the 


214     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XII. 

White-House;  I  have  been  inclined  to  give  him 
what  he  wanted,  to  the  extent  of  my  ability.  He 
has  asked  for  men,  munitions,  all  the  means  of 
war,  and  they  have  been  furnished,  though  he 
keeps  on  demanding  more.  Unsatisfiable  he  di- 
verts hither  not  only  the  Eastern  troops  but  many 
Western ;  he  somehow  has  got  to  thinking  that  the 
whole  war  centers  here,  centers  in  himself.  And  he 
has  always  sought  for  more  authority,  more  power 
— but  he  does  not  do  anything  with  it  when  he 
gets  it,  except  to  make  the  bigger  parade.  Still  I 
must  believe  that  Mac  has  his  unique  merit  which 
is  needful  for  the  country. 

The  Marshal. 
Well,  I  come  to  talk  to  you  about  him.  I  have 
been  taking  notes  on  him!  and  have  resolved  to 
tell  my  results  so  far.  He  took  a  house  here  in 
the  city,  that  gave  me  my  chance.  I  observed  who 
came  and  went ;  I  watched  the  crowd  which  surged 
to  worship  the  rising  star.  Of  a  sudden  he  saw 
himself  the  center  of  a  select  society  composed  of 
silent  men  and  of  talking  women;  and  it  is  not 
friendly  to  you,  to  your  family,  to  the  Union.  I 
noted  at  once  the  insidious  influence;  the  whole 
blast  of  Washington's  rebellious  atmosphere  he 
breathed,  so  did  his  household  and  those  close  to 
him.     In  less  than  one  month  he  began  to  cool  to- 


THE  FIGHT  LESS  DICTATOR.  £15 

ward  you  and  become  less  hearty,  more  fault-find- 
ing; he  was  not  the  M'Clellan  of  West  Virginia, 
active,  sympathetic  with  the  work,  but  a  paralysis 
had  set  in.  That  political  house  of  his  in  a  fash- 
ionable quarter,  was  his  bane — the  first  start  down- 
ward, I  feel.  Already  I  say  he  is  not  the  same 
man  who  won  the  Rich  Mountain  campaign.  He 
seems  in  the  process  of  developing  on  a  new  line. 

Lincoln. 

Yes,  but  this  is  a  much  greater  job,  and  we  must 
give  him  credit  for  what  he  has  done.  That  little 
tack-hammer  of  West  Virginia  he  wielded  fully; 
but  can  he  whirl  this  ponderous  sledge  of  the  Po- 
tomac Army  ?  He  organizes  it  well,  drills  it  indus- 
triously, but  always  he  will  add  to  its  size,  till  he 
seems  getting  unable  to  lift  the  mighty  implement 
he  has  constructed.  But  I  must  let  him  try,  yea 
drive  him  to  try,  if  I  can. 

The  Marshal. 

He  is  laborious — a  scholar  and  a  writer  of  books 
— full  of  drill  and  closet  strategy.  He  was  an  en- 
gineer in  the  army  service.  I  have  noticed  that 
branch ;  its  work  is  to  defend,  and  its  votaries  take 
character  from  their  profession.  M'Clellan  ex- 
pects attack,  seems  unwilling  to  make  attack,  his 
soul  is  on  the  defensive.    But  we  in  this  war  must 


216     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XII. 

take  the  offensive;  unless  we  are  ready  to  separate 
forever,  we  have  to  assault  secession  in  its  lair. 
The  South  claims  the  defensive  and  has  the  right 
to  it.  So  in  M'Clellan's  very  self  I  see  the  Union 
divided,  simply  defending  itself — that  is  his  voca- 
tion, yea  is  his  character — hence  his  conduct.  Then 
I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  political  germ  is 
already  laid  in  his  brain  and  must  sprout. 

Lincoln. 

What  you  say  I  have  observed,  but  I  still  hope 
to  spur  him  forward.  I  grant  he  lacks  initiative. 
But  then  see  what  affection  he  inspires!  How  the 
soldiers  love  him,  believe  in  him !  That  is  a  trait 
most  necessary  in  an  army — affection  for  their 
leader,  a  personal  devotion  which  impels  them  to 
any  sacrifice.  I  am  fond  of  Little  Mac  myself, 
though  he  has  shown  his  disregard  for  me,  has 
even  snubbed  me.  I  may  have  felt  indignant,  but 
I  must  suppress  all  my  feelings  of  affront  in  view 
of  the  great  end;  I  shall  hold  the  bridle  to  his 
horse,  if  he  will  mount  and  ride  to  victory.  A  man 
who  can  inspire  such  love  in  man  as  he  does,  has 
some  good  in  him;  at  least  I  shall  not  yet  quit 
hope.  I  confess  I  have  that  ideal  myself;  as  my 
eternal  gift  of  fame  I  would  inspire  love  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  Therein  he  and  I  have  a 
common  goal;  but  he  wins,  I  doubt  if  I  do. 


THE  FIGHTLESS  DICTATOR.  217 

The  Marshal. 
Let  me  say,  my  friend,  that  is  your  power  over 
me  and  over  many,  and  in  time  perchance  over  all 
men  when  this  war's  hate  has  passed  into  the  calm 
of  History.  But  I  shall  have  to  tell  you  plainly: 
you  have  not  stirred  love  in  M'Clellan's  breast; 
there,  for  some  reason,  you  have  failed.  I  know 
that  he  deems  you  his  secret  foe,  and  thinks  that 
you  are  trying  to  ruin  him.  Strange  hallucina- 
tion !  But  I  have  tested  it  on  all  sides  and  know  it 
to  be  true.  He  has  said  it — I  could,  if  need  be, 
cite  the  witness — but  I  shall  not. 

Lincoln. 

In  that  you  touch  the  most  sensitive  spot.  I  can- 
not win  the  heart  of  M'Clellan,  though  I  have  tried 
in  every  way.  He  refuses  his  confidence,  suspects 
me,  yea  shows  a  sort  of  jealousy,  as  I  construe  the 
fact.  But  it  is  my  sorest  disappointment  that  the 
man's  affection  which  I  need  most  is  refused  me; 
it  makes  my  breast  ache  with  a  pang  of  unrequited 
love.  Still  I  must  keep  my  affection  for  M'Clellan, 
I  shall  not  let  him  estrange  me. 

The  Marshal. 

Excuse  me  if  I  pained  you,  but  I  feel  that  my 

duty  is   to   communicate   what   I  know.      I   have 

traced  the  origin   of  this   attitude   of  M'Clellan. 

The  first  days  he  did  not  show  it,  but  it  budded 


218     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XII. 

when  malcontents  began  to  whisper  in  his  ear  po- 
litical ambition,  that  he  was  the  greatest  man  in 
the  nation,  that  he  was  to  save  it,  but  in  another 
way  from  the  present  one.  Well,  he  is  capable  of 
vanity — what  right  soldier  is  not?  Such  a  play 
upon  his  self-conceit  never  took  place  before.  He 
came  to  dislike  the  President  as  limiting  him,  he 
conceived  he  ought  to  be  in  your  place;  that  title 
of  yours.  Commander-in-chief,  has  become  his 
nightmare.  So  arose  that  jealousy  you  speak  of.  He 
dreams  already  of  being  your  successor,  for  the 
partisans  opposed  to  you  now  are  oft  seen  at  his 
house,  and  even  with  him  in  the  field.  I  have  the 
record  of  what  some  of  them  have  written  to  him. 

Lincoln. 

I  do  not  worry  over  that,  as  the  election  is  some 
three  years  hence.  But  it  sets  my  eyes  to  scald- 
ing to  see  old  General  Scott  so  harassed  by  this 
young  officer,  that  he  has  resigned.  Still  I  shall 
appoint  M'Clellan  the  General  of  all  the  armies 
which  he  wants.  No  other  man  appears,  and  I  shall 
try  to  win  him  still,  and  even  humor  him.  And 
yet  I  often  pray  for  the  coming  Captain — when 
will  he  drop  down  upon  us?  I  know  not  where  to 
look. 

The  Marshal. 

So  Mac  is  now  our  generalissimo;  more  success 
to  him  and  to  us.     One  other  matter  I  must  im- 


THE  FIGHT  LESS  DICTATOR.  219 

part,  after  having  told  of  his  political  headquar- 
ters. At  his  military  headquarters  runs  a  some- 
what different  word:  dictatorship.  The  soldier's 
training  waits  not  for  the  legal  process  of  govern- 
ment, but  he  acts  by  sudden  fiat  out  of  himself; 
that  is  the  spirit — command — obey.  Now  at 
M'Clellan's  headquarters — that  word  is  often 
spoken  by  his  military  entourage;  he  himself  has 
said  it — he  has  even  written  it.  I  may  yet  be  able 
to  get  the  very  copy.  At  any  rate  for  months  that 
ominous  word  is  given  breath  among  the  officers, 
dictatorship.  He  has  gone  so  far  as  to  say  aloud: 
"I  would  take  the  dictatorship." 

Lincoln. 
That  talk  is  idle,  though  mischievous.  Only  the 
successful  general  can  be  dictator ;  I  have  pondered 
much  the  fact.  But  I  am  unable  to  push  M'Clel- 
lan  into  fight ;  when  he  comes  back  a  conquerer,  I 
shall  settle  with  him  then  about  usurpation.  I 
would  like  to  drive  him  to  a  chance  of  being  dicta- 
tor by  victory.  But,  my  Lamon,  that  is  the  danger 
of  all  war,  that  militarism  mid  free  institutions. 

The  Marshal. 
I  am  aware  that  you  keep  your  eye  on  that  pos- 
sibility in  such  a  time  as  this,  in  which  the  Nation 
has  become  one  vast  camp  of  soldiery.    The  instru- 
ment evoked  to  put  down  rebellion  is  next  in  peril 


220     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XII. 

to  the  rebellion  itself.  The  means  may  overweight 
the  end,  unless  guarded  against  by  supreme  cir- 
cumspection. Therein  I  feel  that  you,  the  Presi- 
dent, are  again  the  pilot  to  our  safety;  there  will 
be  no  military  dictator  in  this  war  despite  the 
menacing  sign  in  the  East  and  the  West. 

Lincoln. 
My  mind  never  strays  far  from  this  sleep-rob- 
bing theme.  But  my  chief  stress  now  is  to  find  a 
General  who  will  do  the  grand  deed  of  arms;  just 
at  present  I  would  rather  nurse  him  to  power  than 
curb  him.  I  need  not  tie  success  till  it  is  caught. 
I  told  you  of  the  two-headed  dragon ;  that  worries 
me  less  now,  though  not  out  of  sight  by  any  means. 

The  Marshal. 
What  is  your  darling  anxiety  at  this  moment? 
Possibly  I  may  be  able  to  give  it  a  stab  and  let  its 
life. 

Lincoln. 
No,  you  cannot,  it  lies  not  in  your  field  of  war- 
fare, I  wdsh  it  did.  But  so  much  I  must  declare 
to  you  as  friend :  it  is  the  Fatal  Line  I  saw  drawn 
and  confirmed  by  the  Upper  Power  at  Manassas 
between  the  North  and  South,  and  separating  the 
Union — I  visioned  it  a  deep  and  bloody  chasm 
which  neither  side  could  pass.    Yet  I  have  to  pass 


THE  FIGHT  LESS  DICTATOR.  221 

it — and  that  is  my  fate.     Upbear  me  in  my  trial, 
0  Heaven !  I  cannot  face  the  ensanguined  sight ! 

The  Marshal. 
Terrible  presentiment!     Its  shock  rives  you! 

Lincoln. 
I  am  better  now  for  having  told  you,  my  friend, 
doctor,  aye  my  confessor.  I  have  spent  my  deadly 
mood  upon  you — now  is  the  time  for  you  to  go.  I 
soon  shall  be  myself  again.  God  save  you  for  me 
and  for  the  country. 


laalv  Cl^irtont]^. 


The  Fatal  Line  Broken, 

Lincoln  alone. 
That  is  the  contradiction  of  my  task! 
The  lawj'er  I  must  yield  the  law  to  force ! 
And  nurse  the  soldier  in  his  violence, 
Train  him  to  strike  regardless  of  the  law 
So  that  the  law  may  live  to  be  supreme; 
Since  in  it  too  is  dra^wn  that  Fatal  Line 
Brought  to  this  country  with  our  ancestors, 
Fixed  in  the  Constitution's  fettered  forms, - 
For  generations  gro^Ti  into  our  thought, 
Worded  by  daily  speech  and  intercourse; 
In  me  it  is,  I  know,  and  in  the  people. 
And  yet  it  only  can  be  now  cast  out 
By  exercise  of  military  might. 
Which  I  must  raise  and  foster,  and  then  use, 
(222) 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  223 

Daring  the  civil  peril  of  war's  will — 

I  scan  this  well  and  have  it  oft  bethought; 

Fiercely  aggressive  I  must  make  its  act, 

Yet  not  transgressive  of  its  higher  goal 

"Which  is  the  restoration  of  the  law. 

I  am  to  curb  the  furious  steed  of  battle 

Just  at  its  topmost  charge  and  rein  it  in, 

Lest  it  may  dash  to  death  all  government 

And  rushing  riderless  to  ruin  plunge — 

Itself  the  victim  of  its  very  hope. 

A  double  duty  grinds  me  in  between 

As  if  two  mill  stones  whisked  me  to  their  whirl; 

The  angry  clash  of  danger  from  each  side 

Re-echoes  through  my  soul's  dread  corridors, 

Which  vista  to  me  far  futurity. 

The  civil  and  the  military  have  a  war, 

And  I  must  wage  and  win  the  stroke  of  arms, 

Yet  also  guard  against  their  eounterstroke 

Which  turns  its  edged  blade  upon  its  wielder. 

But  now  behold  the  fresh  emergency ! 

That  Fatal  Line  between  the  North  and  South 

With  bloody  sword-point  at  Manassas  traced. 

Seems  to  be  drawn  in  my  commanders  too. 

Unable  all  of  them  to  break  it  down, 

Or  to  pass  over  it  to  reach  the  foe. 

Here  in  the  East  it  threats  to  strangle  us 

Within  the  narrowed  Capital  itself, 

And  in  the  West  where  stronger  drives  the  impulse 


224     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

To  sweep  ahead  against  the  barrier  bound, 
Buell  will  simply  hold  the  line  and  fortify; 
Halleek  the  same ;  such  is  my  problem  now, 
To  bring  to  use  the  military  mind 
That  has  much  lore  and  drill  and  strategy, 
But  only  knows  defence  and  waits  attack, 
Daring  not  brave  the  assault  upon  the  limit 
Which  is  to  be  surmounted  if  we  win, 
And  cross  the  rift  dividing  us  from  Union. 

Oh  for  a  General  upon  whose  brain 

His  soldier's  training  plants  not  merely  lines 

Defensive  in  their  rigid  fixity! 

Who  will  not  stop  to  play  the  engineer 

Sho\^dng  his  skill  in  labyrinths  of  forts. 

And  lie  behind  them  in  security. 

Doing  the  pomp  of  war  and  the  routine, 

Rounding  a  hopeless  zero  every  day 

Which  soon  must  bring  us  all  to  bankruptcy. 

Would  that  I  might  become  myself  a  nought 

And  sink  in  universal  nothingness 

To  lose  this  awful  consciousness  of  woe. 

Which  deluges  within  me  and  without ! 

And  now  my  darling  boy,  my  dearest  Willie 

Is  writ,  I  fear,  with  death's  malignant  sign 

As  he  lies  tossing  in  his  malady ; 

Methought  I  saw  the  dreaded  angel's  hand 

Inscribe  upon  his  brow  mortality; 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  225 

As  at  his  bed-side  I  kept  watch  last  night 
I  glimpsed  her  shears  to  snip  life's  fragile  thread; 
I  think  of  Ellsworth's  youth  borne  to  the  tomb 
From  here,  this  presence  chamber  of  the  White- 
House  ; 
I  clasp  him  in  the  love  of  my  sick  child, 
With  whom  he  felt  twined  in  one  heart; 
And  now  comes  flitting  me  a  maiden's  image — 
But  I  must  quit  this  brooding  on  mine  own, 
Lest  melancholy  venom  reason's  fount, 
Unkeying  me  for  higher  duty  to  my  task. 
Still  when  I  look  outside  me  at  my  land 
Writhing  in  its  contortions  of  disease. 
Which  chasms  it  between  its  life  and  death 
And  cuts  down  to  its  heart  Fate's  boundary. 
There  thickens  in  my  soul  a  deeper  gloom. 
In  which  for  agony  I  shout  to  God : 
If  thou,  Oh  Heaven,  wert  ever  rifted  with  revolt 
As  is  set  down  upon  thy  holy  page. 
Send  me  a  man  who  evens  with  the  hour, 
Vouchsafe  a  General  who  dares  the  deed, 
Who  dares  the  Fatal  Line  at  breaking  point, 
And  smites  the  fetter  of  our  destiny. 


226     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

Seward  enters. 
The  best  news  yet!  the  first  decisive  blow! 
Fort  Donelson  has  fallen,  all  its  hosts 
Of  many  thousands  are  now  prisoners, 
On  terms  of  absolute  surrender  ours. 
Southward  the  other  foes  have  fled  in  haste, 
And  cannot  Avell  be  stopped  for  headlong  flight, 
Until  they  reach  a  new  protecting  line. 

Lincoln. 

Out  of  the  West  then  comes  the  first  relief! 
You  pluck  me  from  a  tumult  of  despair 
Into  whose  pit  I  was  just  wilting  dowTi, 
At  thought  of  all  this  helpless  generalship ; 
But  tell  me  the  commander!  Yes  I  know 
His  name.    I  have  been  watching  him — 'tis  Grant. 
Aye,  U.  S.  Grant — that  spells  United  States — 
Auspicious  sounds — let  me  but  hope  the  omen. 

Seward. 
He  moved  forthright  upon  the  hostile  works, . 
He  halted  not  but  pushed  along  his  path, 
Until  he  found  that  which  he  would  assail; 
He  took  the  fort  and  all  its  garrison 
In  unconditional  surrender — There ! 
Mark  the  U.  S.  again — a  presage  double. 

Lincoln. 
I  wonder  if  he  be  indeed  the  man 
Whom  we  have  prayed  for  daily  with  our  hopes. 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  227 

He  has  the  education  military, 

And  has  seen  service  too  in  Mexico, 

Yet  has  for  years  been  dipped  in  civil  life, 

Which  may  transmute  to  use  the  soldier's  skill, 

Whose  bent  is  else  to  exercise  itself 

For  its  own  end  without  regard  to  ours. 

Seward. 
That  is  vocation 's  strain  in  soldiership : 
The  soldier  ever  keeps  a-soldiering. 
He  finds  his  one  ideal — that  is  West  Point — 
Which  drills  and  dresses  all  for  its  own  sake; 
His  camp,  his  country,  aye  his  universe 
Will  but  become  for  him  a  vast  West  Point — 
Plis  schooling  has  fenced-in  his  very  soul 
That  it  cannot  outsoar  what  it  has  learned. 
But  sticks  fast  in  its  forms  so  crystallized. 
That  it  inspects  just  for  its  self-inspection. 
Yet  we  can  never  do  without  this  school 
Which  gives  the  discipline  and  lore  of  war. 
Though  stamping  on  the  mind  its  boundary; 
Yea,  education's  self  runs  on  that  limit. 

Li^icoln. 
It  is  a  problem  which  I  ponder  oft. 
When  I  go  out  to  see  M'Clellan's  army, 
Parading  seemingly  to  see  itself, 
Drilling  for  sake  of  its  own  perfect  drill; 
A  peacock  large  turns  the  embattled  host 


228     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

Whose  object  is  to  spread  its  showy  feathers, 
Which  arch  the  sunlight  with  a  rainbow's  pomp, 
And  then  lock  up  their  ease  with  task  fulfilled. 

Seward. 
Now  we  may  see  beginning  of  the  end 
Which  has  defied  so  long  our  searching  glance. 
In  this  vast  military  coil  on  coil 
Which  interwinds  itself  in  thousand  folds 
I  never  could  spy  out  its  head  or  tail, 
Although  I  knew  it  had  some  huge  aesophagus 
Along  its  entire  length  so  tortuous. 
For  it  would  raven  down  in  greed  more  men 
Than  we  could  hasten  to  it  armed  for  war, 
And  still  its  hunger  never  was  appeased, 
But  as  if  starved  would  cry  for  more  and  more, 
Like  Ophiuchus  of  the  starry  belt 
Gaping  to  gulp  all  Space  into  his  maw. 
But  here  enough!  Let's  turn  our  sight  from  this 
Across  the  mountains  to  the  Western  valley 
Whence  dawns  upon  the  peaks  the  morning  bright ; 
What  think  you  of  the  new-fledged  man  ? 

Lincoln. 
This  thought  has  slowly  filtered  from  our  talk: 
Grant  did  again  become  one  of  the  people 
Whom  he  now  leads,  has  risen  from  below, 
Not  from  above  appointed  to  his  charge. 
Thus  he  has  sipped  from  fountains  of  the  folk 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  229 

Directly,  has  taken  up  within  himself 

The  frontier  spirit  full  of  enterprise, 

Which  lives  a  life  of  the  initiative; 

And  to  the  drillful  learning  of  West-Point 

Who  is  our  learned  Professor  military 

Self-occupied,  aristocratic  too, 

Grant  may  impart  the  daring  popular, 

The  forthright  will  which  strikes  out  for  the  goal. 

Him  I  shall  store  up  in  my  memory, 

Perchance  he  is  the  man — the  man  long  sought. 

But  ah !  my  throb  of  sudden  joy  is  smit 

With  the  quick  counterstroke  of  anxious  pain. 

O  Seward,  did  you  ever  lose  a  child! 

Whose  name  lay  tenderest  within  your  heart 

And  filled  your  evil  days  with  love  and  hope? 

Seward. 
Friend,  banish  nature's  gloom  to-day  at  least. 

Lincoln. 
My  boy  is  sick,  my  Willie  sick  to  death ; 
Let  me  give  out  one  sigh,  one  us  between. 
Even  in  your  good  news  I  feel  the  fate 
Which  countersigns  in  black  my  happiness. 

Seward. 
But  let  us  contemplate  our  full  success. 
The  other  victories  do  not  forget — 
The  lesser  blows  of  war  along  the  line 


230     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

■Which  have  forecast  the  mighty  master-stroke. 

Mill  Spring  began  the  breach,  the  herald  first 

Of  those  successive  triumphs  of  our  arms; 

A  battle  fought  and  won  by  General  Thomas, 

Virginian  of  blood  and  soldier  trained, 

But  loyal  to  the  cause  which  he  deemed  right 

In  spite  of  kinship,  friends,  society, 

And  all  the  blandishments  of  his  dear  State — 

That  was  to  me  a  high  heroic  deed — 

A  greater  victory  than  that  of  arms, 

Though  he  first  cracked  your  lurid  Line  of  Fate. 

Li7icoln. 
With  all  my  heart,  yes,  yes !  but  will  he  stick  ? 
I  cannot  yet  quite  banish  from  my  thought 
The  nature  of  Virginia's  Unionism 
Which  has  inoculated  all  her  sons, 
Who  vnll  secede  unless  the  State  be  lord, 
As  has  been  shown  by  her  Convention's  act — 
A  Unionism  overturning  Union. 

Seward. 
Let  your  foreboding  soul  to-day  be  banned! 
And  let  us  mark  the  sequence  of  our  glories : 
Mill  Spring  is  followed  by  Fort  Henry's  capture. 
Then  comes  the  mighty  deed  of  Donelson, 
And  soon  the  blockade  of  the  Mississippi 
Is  to  be  shivered  by  our  cannonry. 
And  then  far  off  upon  the  Western  border 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  231 

I  hear  that  Curtis  drives  the  enemy 
Beyond  Missouri's  lower  boundary. 
It  is  a  line  two  thousand  miles  in  length, 
Extending  from  the  Alleghenies  here 
Quite  till  the  early  stretches  of  the  Rockies, 
Across  the  entire  valley  of  your  river — 
Now  see  it  broken  at  its  leading  joints ! 

Lincoln. 
The  Fatal  Line  is  breached  then  in  the  "West! 
Not  in  one  spot  but  all  along  its  length ! 
And  yet  somehow  we  cannot  budge  our  chain 
Here  in  the  East — it  seems  to  coil  us  tighter — 
Though  we  keep  adding  to  our  soldiery 
And  to  the  vast  equipments  for  a  fight 
"Which  is  not  fought ;  we  shrink  back  from  the  dare, 
Ourselves  oppressed  by  the  collossal  weight 
Us  hampering  without  and  too  within. 
Seward,  as  you  were  reared  a  native  here, 
Have  studied  too  and  acted  history. 
Unriddle  me  the  cause  of  character 
Upon  this  coast  whose  troops  stand  face  to  face  ? 
Tell  me  why  should  the  old  States  North  and  South 
Keep  still  to  that  fixed  line  drawn  at  Bull  Run 
Each  staying  on  his  side  in  separation, 
"While  those  new  States  in  the  broad  "Valley 
Trample  it  to  pieces  under  conquering  feet, 
And  sweep  on  Southward  to  their  war-lit  goal  ? 


232     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

Seward. 
That  is  a  dark  conundrum  of  the  Gods 
Whose  answer  lies  not  in  my  vision  yet. 
So  I  dismiss  it  as  insoluble — 
But  I  must  run  back  to  official  tasks 
Which  I  delayed  to  speak  to  you  the  news. 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  233 

Lincoln  alone. 
What  weighs  on  me  the  most  sits  light  on  him, 
Or  is  not  present  to  his  consciousness: 
The  outcome  of  this  war  already  turns 
Upon  the  difference  of  East  and  West, 
But  Seward  sees  not  yet  the  dawning  light. 
Long  since  I  have  it  silently  foref elt, 
And  Douglas  hinted  to  like  tenor  once, 
Which  left  its  pressure  active  in  my  brain. 
Tell  me,  ye  Powers,  having  this  in  hand, 
Must  not  we  too  upon  this  salt  sea  coast 
Break  through  the  Nation's  minatory  bourne. 
That  Fatal  Line  of  separation's  curse? 
Our  chief  resources  have  been  lavished  here 
Of  men,  of  money  and  material;  . 
The  most  of  each  and  best  of  all  in  choice, 
And  still  there  is  no  earnest  stir  to  act. 
Now  I  shall  try  to  push  my  Little  Mac 
To  rivalry  of  Grant  and  Donelson 
And  rouse  the  East  to  do  the  Western  deed; 
But  of  such  purpose  I  must  tongue-tied  keep, 
And  trounce  to  silence  the  comparison, 
Lest  I  excite  the  demon  jealousy 
Whom  I  already  have  observed  at  work 
And  heard  him  whisper  in  an  undertone. 
Some  weeks  ago  when  Mac  was  sick  abed 
I  took  command  of  his  Potomac  army, 
And  sought  to  shape  it  for  its  coming  move; 


2S4     WNCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

I  studied  all  the  books  of  strategy, 

Asked  the  opinion  of  his  generals, 

Planned  the  campaign  which  was  then  to  begin, 

Reorganized  the  army  into  corps. 

And  their  commanders  I  selected  too. 

The  order  to  advance  would  soon  have  been 

Upon  my  lips,  when  lo !  who  doth  appear  ? 

None  other  than  our  Little  Mac  in  bloom, 

A  miracle  of  quick  recovery. 

Without  a  trace  of  illness  on  his  cheek; 

He  grumbled  at  the  changes  which  I  made, 

But  took  his  place  again,  yet  lapsed  afresh 

To  his  old  lethargy — calling  for  more — 

More  infantry,   more  cavalry,  more,   more — 

And  still  spell-bound  he  stands  within  his  tracks, 

Week  after  week,  refusing  to  break  camp. 

But  what  to  me  is  more  surprising  yet: 
His  army  shares  in  that  same  character, 
Their  idol  is  he,  aye  too  their  ideal, 
Him  heroizing  high  in  admiration. 
As  if  his  were  the  world's  chief  soldiership. 
They  dub  him  young  Napoleon  risen  here 
To  end  the  war  in  rapid  victory, 
Though  he  stir  not,  still  unvictorious. 
That  mystery  of  power  seemeth  his 
Which  can  inspire  strong  love  just  for  his  weak- 
ness; 
He  molds  his  troops  all  over  to  himself, 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  235 

And  welds  them  to  him  in  their  hearts'  affection 
Far  down  to  depths  beneath  their  conscious  will. 
I  have  to  think  this  army  and  its  leader 
Have  some  last  likeness  in  a  common  soul 
Whose  throb  M'Clellan's  gift  jets  up  to  light, 
And  makes  it  pulse  in  every  soldier's  breast. 
But  I  must  pang  me  to  the  sour  confession 
That  I  can  win  nor  him  in  love  nor  them, 
Both  seem  to  feel  outside  of  my  world's  heart. 
Still  up  I  must  from  mine  own  maundering  self. 
Now  he  must  start — I  shall  command  again — 
He  deems  the  army  his — a  plaything  huge; 
But  I  shall  borrow  it  a  little  while, 
And  make  it  spin  unto  its  purposed  task. 
I  feel  the  test  has  now  been  put  to  me: 
This  army  of  the  East  I  have  to  force 
Until  it  breaches  too  the  Fatal  Line 
Between  this  Washington  and  yonder  Richmond, 
Repeating  here  the  deed  done  in  the  West, 
That  tells  me  of  the  goal  I  have  to  reach. 
Forward  M'Clellan!  that  is  now  the  word 
"Of  your  commander  here,  the  President. 
But  with  this  push  of  hope  propelling  me 
I  feel  a  backstroke  in  my  very  heart : 
I  must  now  go  to  watch  my  lingering  boy, 
Who  too  seems  battling  on  the  line  of  Fate — 
But  first  here  comes  a  man  whom  I  must  see, 
Again  I  am  kept  back,  0  bitter  lot ! 
Conferring  on  the  Nation's  high  affairs. 


236      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

Attorney-General   (enters). 
Lincoln. 

Welcome,  my  fellow-advocate  from  Missouri,  and 
my  trusted  legal  advisor  in  the  Cabinet !  What 
new  interpretation  of  the  law  bring  you  to-day, 
that  we  may  keep  our  work  of  violence  within 
civil  bounds,  as  far  as  possible?  Then  you  repre- 
sent the  Border  States,  now  the  pivot  of  our  suc- 
cess; also  you  hail  from  that  turbulent  city  of  St. 
Louis,  whose  fierce  factions  sometimes  act  as  if 
they  would  start  to  cutting  one  another's  throats. 

Attorney-General. 
It  is  my  opinion  that  a  fresh  Reign  of  Terror 
may  break  out  there  at  almost  any  time  between 
the  foreigners  and  the  natives  chiefly,  both  sides 
claiming  to  be  Unionists.  The  situation  reminds 
me  of  Robespierre  and  his  bloody  partisans  guil- 
lotining all  who  differed  from  them  in  the  hey- 
day of  blood.  My  secret  information  presages  a 
revolutionary  madness  which  starts  to  devouring 
its  own  children.  Old  Saturn  seems  actually  ris- 
ing to  life  again  in  St.  Louis. 

Lincoln. 

Dear  friend,  it  cannot  come  to  that.  Your  eyes 
magnify  all  just  now  through  a  heavy  fog  of  gloom ; 
mine  often  do  so  too,  I  know  the  cloudy  mood. 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  237 

First  let  me  assure  you  that  ample  precautions 
have  been  taken  against  excess;  secondly,  there  is 
little  likelihood  of  such  an  outbreak  anyhow.  If 
your  city  were  isolated  from  the  rest  of  us,  or 
were  the  whole  of  the  nation,  the  case  might  be 
different;  but  St.  Louis  is  not  Paris  (which  claims 
to  be  all  France),  and  Missouri  is  not  the  United 
States,  and  makes  no  such  pretence.  In  our  politi- 
cal system,  if  a  part  gets  out  of  order,  the  whole 
hastens  to  correct  the  trouble.  Indeed  that  is 
just  what  we  are  engaged  in  now :  the  total  organ- 
ism is  trying  to  throw  off  this  furious  disease  of 
a  part  called  secession. 

Attorney-General. 
Well,   let   the   matter   pass   for   the   present;    I 
come  for  another  purpose. 

Lincohi. 
Good!    Let  me  now  hear  your  legal  animadver- 
sions, which  are  always  excellent. 

Attorney-General. 

Nay,  I  am  not  here  for  that  business,  though 
I  be  your  law-officer.  I  appear  in  a  new  role.  I 
wish  to  make  a  personal  recommendation,  and  it  is 
of  a  man  who  does  not  push  himself,  who  is  with- 
out political  influence,  and  hence  is  likely  to  be 
overlooked,  to  the  injury  of  the  great  cause. 


238     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

Lincoln. 
Good  Heavens,  you  too!     That  stream  will  yet 
drown  me !    But  to  the  matter — tell  me  whom  you 
mean,  and  what  is  the  office. 

Attorney-General. 
You  mistake — but  let  his  name  be  spoken  out  at 
once — General  Thomas.  He  won  the  battle  of  Mill 
Spring  and  started  the  wave  of  victories  which  is 
now  surging  in  our  West  from  the  Alleghenies  to- 
ward the  Rockies.  He  is  the  one  Virginia  soldier 
of  high  rank  and  of  great  ability  who  did  not  go 
with  his  State  into  rebellion.  The  act  is  unique 
and  gives  him  a  unique  place  in  History.  Mark, 
I  come  to  you  not  at  his  request;  he  is  far  from 
here  with  his  troops  on  the  battle-line  in  Kentucky 
or  advancing  into  Tennessee.  But  I  am  sprung 
of  Virginia,  and  I  feel  that  he  is  one  of  her  great 
towering  characters — he  cannot  be  too  soon  pro- 
moted to  a  higher  place. 

Lincoln. 

My  eye  has  been  on  him  ever  since  I  noted 
him  here  once  in  the  White-House  when  he  made 
me  a  soldier's  call.  I  observed  that  he  said  little, 
was  quite  undemonstrative ;  I  rather  wondered 
what  was  going  on  in  that  massive  head  of  his 
with  its  well-fortified  shock  of  hair;   I  recollect 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  239 

of  quizzing  myself  briefly  about  him  w'heu  I 
signed  his  commission  as  Brigadier-General,  and 
sent  him  West,  as  he  wished.  I  confess  I  liked 
his  choice  of  a  field,  it  seemed  he  wanted  to  keep 
away  from  the  Virginia  danger  or  disease,  which 
has  carried  off  in  revolt  so  many  of  her  sons  who 
belonged  to  the  old  army.  Among  them  he  stands 
forth  the  striking  exception. 

Attorney-General. 

I  tell  you,  Mr.  President,  that  is  the  most  heroic 
deed  yet  done  in  this  war  by  any  commanding 
personalty.  It  is  a  mighty  self-conquest,  antece- 
dent perhaps  to  the  greatest  outer  conquests,  if 
the  opportunity  be  only  furnished  to  the  man. 
I  appreciate  him  the  more  because  I  have  felt 
the  same  internal  conflict,  though  doubtless  not  so 
deep  and  intense,  since  I  have  lived  long  in  the 
West  away  from  the  old  Virginia  home  with  its 
death-like  clutch  upon  the  very  hearts  of  its  chil- 
dren. 

Lincoln. 

I  think  I  can  appreciate  that  feeling,  I  do  not 
deny  having  a  touch  of  it  myself  in  my  blood. 
But  I  have  had  to  deal  with  that  strange  Vir- 
ginia conscienceness,  which  is  for  the  Union  but 
fights  against  its  maintenance,  which  dislikes  slav- 
ery yet  battles  for  it,  which  mothered  our  govern- 


240     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

ment  and  is  now  bayoneting  its  own  offspring — 
and  does  it  in  all  honesty  of  conviction.  Blame 
me  not  if  I  have  some  fear  of  that  spirit  still, 
though  I  would  not  do  an  injustice  to  any  one, 
least  of  all  to  a  soul  loyal  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances. 

Attorney-General. 
I  venture  to  say  that  Thomas  has  already  fought 
with  himself  just  that  battle,  the  hardest  battle 
of  this  war,  and  won  it.  He  has  broken  the  fetters 
of  tradition  which  imprison  so  hopelessly  the  Old- 
Dominion,  has  defied  Family  and  State  with  all 
their  blandishments  and  all  their  excommunica- 
tions, and  risen  to  the  Nation  which  he  upholds 
against  them  if  they  oppose,  as  they  in  this  case 
do.  He,  therefore,  stands  forth  to  me  the  great- 
est hero  of  nationality — greater,  I  dare  affirm, 
than  you  or  I,  because  he  has  had  to  make  a 
deeper  conquest  and  against  mightier  odds.  We 
with  our  fathers  had  already  broken  those  Vir- 
ginia chains  by  migration  to  the  West.  We  ran 
away,  but  he  stayed  and  fought  out  his  primal 
personal  struggle  unto  victory. 

Lincoln. 
I  shall  not  fail  to  keep  track  of  him,  though 
I  must  be  allowed  to  test  him  a  little  further.    The 
Virginia   burns   on   my   brain   are   not   yet   quite 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  241 

healed.  I  may  tell  you  that  I  am  favorably  dis- 
posed to  Thomas  for  another  reason.  His  plan 
of  campaign  was  to  march  to  East  Tennessee  and 
there  organize  in  arms  its  Union  men  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  thus  to  cut  the  Confederacy  in  two  by 
a  living  wall  of  the  bravest  soldiers  defending 
their  fastnesses  along  the  whole  Appalachian 
range  from  Kentucky  to  Georgia  and  Alabama.  I 
still  believe  that  would  have  been  the  right  strat- 
egy for  the  whole  war.  The  Confederate  headship 
at  Richmond  appreciated  the  situation,  and  did 
their  utmost  to  stamp  out  the  loyalty  of  the  hardy 
East  Tennesseans.  I  urged  my  plan,  but  the  high 
military  men — Buell,  Sherman,  Halleck — discour- 
aged it;  only  Thomas  approved  and  was  ready  to 
strike  at  once.  So  I  naturally  have  admiration 
for  his  ability. 

'Attorney-General. 
Yes,  military  ability  and  much  more — unshaken 
fidelity  to  supreme  conviction  of  what  is  supreme. 
I  wonder  at  your  progress  in  strategy,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, and  accept  it  as  correct,  though  it  lies  out- 
side of  my  field.  But  what  I  would  stress  to  you 
is  not  Mill  Spring  or  strategic  skill,  but  that  in- 
ner deed  of  heroism  in  General  Thomas,  which  I 
can  understand  better  than  I  do  musket  and  can- 
non.    The  typical  deed  of  the  whole  conflict  in 


242     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIII. 

one  man — I  may  presage  it  the  prototype  of  the 
war's  full  course  rounded  in  one  soul's  experience, 
the  renunciation  of  the  heart's  fondest  ties  in  obe- 
dience to  the  highest  behest  of  the  Divine  Order. 
Only  a  Virginian,  I  hold,  could  so  completely  be 
such  a  cycle  of  experience  within  himself  and  of 
such  intensity. 

Lincoln. 
Yes,  I  have  had  some  dealings  with  Mother 
Virginia,  and  know  a  little  about  her  inspirations. 
Indeed  I  have  talked  with  her  in  person,  face  to 
face,  and  heard  her  issue  her  final  edict  to  me 
with  threats  of  her  vast  displeasure,  unless  I 
obeyed — which  I  as  representative  of  the  Nation 
could  not,  and  would  not. 

Attorney-General. 
I  am  puzzling  about  what  you  mean.  Spare  me 
your  stories,  particularly  your  ghost-stories.  At 
any  rate  you  have  not  conquered  Virginia  and 
you  will  not  for  a  while,  according  to  appearances 
— ^but  Thomas  has. 

Lincoln. 
Virginia  conquered !     Explain  me  that  riddle, 
which   is   for   me   a   tougher   proposition   than   a 
spook. 

'Attorney-Oeneral. 
Plainly,   then,    General   Thomas  has   put   down 
the  old  Virginia  within  himself — the  first  act  of 


THE  FATAL  LINE  BROKEN.  243 

the  grand  drama  and  standing  for  the  last,  which 
is  her  outer  subordination.  Now  for  my  final  sug- 
gestion: arm  him  with  the  Nation's  power,  have 
him  wheel  about  from  the  West  to  the  Atlantic 
coast,  where  he,  victorious,  will  return  to  her  soil, 
his  home,  and  inbreathe  his  new  spirit  into  her 
old  body  exanimate,  endowing  her  with  a  fresh 
incarnation. 

Lincoln. 
Well,  well,  I  did  not  know  that  you  were  so 
good  a  dreamer.  Your  talk  has  indeed  fore- 
tokened much  of  the  future  as  I  catch  it  at  times 
in  glimpses.  But  you  have  also  called  up  an- 
other line  of  thoughts  to  which  I  am  at  present 
most  sensitive:  disease,  decay,  deatli.  I  beg  you 
to  excuse  me  now;  my  boy  Willie  lies  in  throes 
of  illness,  I  must  hasten  to  his  sick  bed-side — I 
have  tarried  too  long — methinks  I  hear  his  pierc- 
ing cry  of  pain  till  here,  Goodbye. 


i00h  ^omtnntl^. 


Lincoln's  Lament  Over  His  Son. 

''The  vulture  Fate  swoops  down  on  me  again 

And  stabs  his  beak  into  my  heart  of  hearts 

As  if  I  were  the  new  Prometheus. 

Dead,  0  my  Willie!  son  of  my  best  hope! 

Housed  in  thy  homeless  solitary  tomb ! 

I  love  my  other  sons,  all  of  them  well! 

But  thou  some  how  could  'st  win  thy  father 's  choice ! 

I  saw  in  thee  my  boyhood  bloom  anew 

And  daringly  leap  forth  into  the  world 

To  test  like  me  the  limits  of  thy  lot ! 

My  gifted  child,  thou  cam'st  my  soul  new-born 

Already  in  thy  days  of  infancy ; 

Many  a  little  turn  of  thine  spoke  genius ! 

Ambition  of  my  world  was  also  thine ! 

(244) 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OYER  HIS  SON.  ^4,5 

I  heard  thee  flash  on  me  one  day  a  word : 
'When  I  am  President,  I  shall  do  thus.' 
It  seemed  a  momentary  lightning  shot 
Out  of  the  future — now  it  is  all  quenched 
In  human  ashes — would  I  were  such  too ! 
Methinks  I  could  lie  down  with  thee  to  rest 
And  sleep  in  love  forever  at  thy  side ! 
But  Oh  this  love  of  mine — I  feel  it  kills ! 
It  is  a  fatal  thing  to  him  or  her 
"Who  wins  it  whole — I  have  already  known 
That  my  affection  slays  its  dearest  object ! 
Can  I  forget  the  maiden  of  my  youth 
Whose  doom  was  coupled  with  this  heart  of  mine, 
Whose  shadow  haunts  me  still  here  in  the  White- 
House  ? 
Last  night  they  both  came  back  to  me  in  dream, 
A  little  boy  and  somewhat  older  girl, 
I  saw  them  play  together  happily 
And  laugh  when  in  their  game  I  took  a  part ; 
I  lived  with  them  a  seeming  age's  bliss, 
But  when  I  woke  and  daylight  shut  me  off 
From  that  fair  dreamland  where  I  felt  me  glad 
For  the  first  time  in  all  my  days  of  gloom, 
It  seemed  as  if  I  could  not  quit  that  world 
In  which  my  love  was  stilled  of  all  its  yearning ; 
I  would  go  straightway  back  to  those  two  shapes, 
Would  tear  to  very  shreds  that  slender  veil 
Which  shuts  them  out  from  my  existence  now. 


246    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIV. 

I  see  them  playing  still  beneath  the  tree, 

The  mulberry  of  lost  New  Salem  village, 

Upon  the  seat  which  I  once  plaited  there 

Of  twigs  and  grapevines  for  my  dreams  of  love, 

Where  I  would  meet  the  maiden  oft  in  hope. 

And  where  at  last  I  told  her  all  my  heart, 

Mid  clashes  of  a  conflict  in  our  souls. 

But  from  that  moment  she  was  fallen  ill. 

She  quickly  passed  away  from  mortal  gaze, 

The  early  victim  of  my  doomful  love ; 

I  cannot  help  it  though  the  stamp  of  death 

It  be  upon  the  life  which  beats  with  mine. 

It  thrusts  a  dagger  to  that  very  heart 

Which  throbs  unto  mine  own  the  most  endeared.' 

So  Lincoln  let  his  paroxysm  vent 
His  mood  gloom-laden  into  words  which  eased 
His  stress  of  suffering ;  whereat  more  calm 
A  sacred  reminiscense  bubbled  up : 
''With  Willie  I  began  to  read  my  Bible 
In  deeper  understanding  of  its  import. 
Through  pregnant  questions  of  his  waxing  wit 
Which  oft  bespoke  my  puzzles  more  than  his ; 
In  answering  him  I  had  myself  to  answer, 
To  clear  his  doubt,  I  had  to  doubt  my  doubt. 
And  so  I  got  to  glimpse  that  Upper  World 
Which  is  the  burden  of  the  Holy  Writ, 
Its  deepest  revelation  unto  man. 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.  247 

Soon  I  began  its  shapes  to  comprehend 

And  to  identify  them  with  mine  own, 

"Which  seemed  installed  already  in  the  White-House. 

The  Presences  which  fill  that  ancient  Book 

Are  ruling  still,  I  found,  our  world  of  Now, 

And  haunting  me,  my  life  and  all  my  deeds ; 

How  glad  I  read  them  in  the  written  word ! 

And  verify  them  in  my  far-down  self 

E  'en  if  I  think  them  under  different  names 

And  tune  their  speech  diverse  from  Scripture's  talk ! 

My  own  self's  language  I  must  make  myself. 

That  Hebrew  Book  grows  dearer  daily  still 

To  me  for  its  own  worth  in  highest  love, 

But  chiefly  it  becomes  a  monument 

On  which  I  read  my  Willie's  memory, 

Through  whom  I  came  to  know  its  overworld 

Of  guidance  to  our  human  goal  supreme. 

So  with  its  tested  texts  I  must  commune 

A  little  every  day  for  uplift  sure, 

And  suffer  with  its  folk  in  sympathy 

Who  had  to  stand  their  trials  for  us  all. 

A  Jew  was  brought  to  me  the  other  day, 

A  blockade-runner  caught  the  second  time 

By  Lamon's  vigilance  in  espionage; 

His  o'erhooked  nose  mid  crispy  matted  beard 

And  baleful  cockatrice 's  demon-eyes 

Which  looked  his  lie  and  shot  his  guilt  in  scorn, 


248    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIV. 

Made  all  my  body  crawl  uncannily 
As  if  old  Eden's  serpent  crept  along  me; 
But  when  he  laid  his  hand  upon  the  Book 
And  lit  his  face  with  look  of  reverence 
As  leaves  fell  open  at  the  page  of  Paradise 
Which  I  had  often  read  with  my  boy  Willie, 
Then  begged  forgiveness  of  mortality, 
Which  was  his  common  lot  with  Adam 's  sons, 
I  pardoned  him  just  for  his  race's  sake. 
And  for  the  Book  which  it  has  given  us 
Although  he  looked  like  Judas  more  than  Christ, 
And  stood  his  People's  Satan,  not  their  Jahveh, 
Both  of  which  characters  they  built  for  man. 
To  mould  himself  by  them  to  good  or  evil. ' ' 

So  Lincoln  soothed  his  lot  in  far-off  thoughts ; 

But  moments  only  could  he  drown  himself 

In  his  own  waters  of  oblivion, 

For  old  remembrances  still  bubbled  up. 

As  he  turned  to  another  scriptured  page 

Pursuing  consolation 's  fleeting  cloud, 

Behold !  between  two  leaves  looks  up  at  him 

The  laughing  image  of  his  pictured  son 

As  if  the  boy  would  step  to  his  young  life 

Again  to  ask  his  father  for  a  story. 

The  parent  slammed  the  covers  of  the  Book 

Writhing  in  agony  of  new  despair ; 

The  Holy  Writ  itself  had  seemed  to  thrust 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.  249 

Back  in  his  face  the  sorest  stroke  of  time, 
Fulfihnent  of  the  judgment  from  above. 
The  anguished  father  seized  that  copied  shape, 
And  welled  an  utterance  from  the  last  founts 
Where  surged  his  inner  ocean 's  cataclysm : 
' '  Could  I  but  give  myself  the  mortal  stab, 
End  this  demonic  tussle  with  my  Fate 
"Which  bids  me  live  to  be  the  more  the  fated, 
And  lets  me  love  to  reave  me  of  the  loved ! 
If  I  were  burdened  only  with  myself 
And  in  account  for  my  own  being  merely 
Methinks  I  could  no  longer  cling  to  such  a  clod 
Of  cursed  clay,  mad  sport  of  spit-fire  Fortune, 
But  fling  it  off  this  minute  into  nothingness, 
Taking  my  exit  from  this  world's  staged  hell. 
Aye  even  from  my  self 's  own  scene  evanished. 
But  a  belief  I  have  which  anchors  me 
As  'twere  God's  own  belief  all  in  himself. 
And  in  the  Universe  which  He  creates, 
That  I  must  live  just  here  beyond  myself, 
I  am  not  merely  I,  but  the  institution; 
Such  I  am  too,  by  virtue  of  my  office. 
And  of  this  nodal  turn  of  History ; 
This  Nation's  being  is  involved  in  mine, 
So  I  am  faithed  to  live  and  then  to  die 
When  the  full  cycle  of  my  task  is  turned. 
If  I  should  slay  myself,  I  would  then  slay 
Far  more  than  just  this  person  of  mine  own, 


250    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XIV. 

Would  wound  the  Future  at  its  very  birth 

And  rashly  let  the  blood  of  Hope  herself. 

As  I  believe  in  me  as  sent  to  save, 

I  have  no  right  to  dare  such  godless  act. 

From  the  assassin 's  knife  I  have  been  spared, 

So  oft  unsheathed  for  me,  but  caught  and  held 

By  Power  unseen,  when  I  would  welcome  it — 

I,  ever  scotched  by  Fate,  but  never  slain 

Till  Time  fulfilled  brings  round  my  due  demission. 

On  Self  I  dare  not  raise  the  fatal  blade 

Which  Heaven  fends  away  with  subtle  hand. 

Thus  conscience  as  the  soldier  of  the  soul. 

Doth  make  me  brave  to  face  the  living  line, 

Which  I  might  shrink  the  coward  conscienceless. 

Quenching  in  fear  this  petty  spark  of  life. 

Not  viewing  in  me  too  the  Universe. 

So  I  defy  my  small  self -slaughterous  thoughts 

Which  only  see  this  microcosm's  speck 

Of  mine  own  little  self  of  being  here; 

And  I  shall  live  not  cabined  in  me  sole. 

But  for  the  many,  it  may  be  for  all — 

Live  the  associated  life  of  man. 

And  suffer  with  the  whole,  not  me  alone, 

My  pain  must  be  not  merely  mine,  but  God 's, 

And  I,  God 's  son,  must  dare  all  suffering. ' ' 

The  sorrow-smitten  Lincoln  paced  his  room 
Defiant  of  grief's  mortal  thunderbolts, 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.  251 

"Wresting  himself  from  his  own  stroke  of  death 
Kepeatedly  suspended  o  'er  his  head, 
A  swaying  battle  of  recurrent  struggles 
From  which  he  often  sheerly  dragged  himself 
Though  the  assault  would  surge  and  surge  again, 
With  respite  brief  mid  paroxysmal  throes. 
His  stalwart  frame  shook  shivering  of  anguish 
For  his  evanished  boy  first  in  his  heart, 
"With  whom  was  mingled  in  rare  sympathy 
His  early  love  for  woman  at  her  bloom 
Which  also  wilted  down  before  his  view. 
Both  shapes  appearing  to  his  soul  upborne 
In  all  the  glory  of  their  rosy  youth. 

But  soon  another  paroxysmal  storm 

Of  strong  resurgent  death  raged  in  his  soul 

As  if  to  sweep  him  off  the  brutal  earth. 

There  heaved  a  longing  unendurable 

Within  his  breast  to  pass  at  once  to  both 

And  stay  beyond  with  those  whom  he  most  loved. 

He  would  not  longer  bear  life 's  separation 

But  step  across  one  moment's  boundary 

Into  another  world  untimed,  unspaced. 

But  as  he  sprang  upright  he  was  aware 

That  he  was  still  upon  this  side  of  death. 

Which  he  could  not  invoke  unto  his  aid 

Except  by  his  own  voluntary  act 

On  which  fierce  duty  .frowned  a  stern  refusal, 


252    LINCOLN  IN, THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIV. 

And  bade  him  back  to  bear  his  mortal  charge. 
Still  sighed  he  for  that  ideal  otherwhere, 
With  heartbeats  rapid  not  to  be  withstood 
Which  throbbed  him  out  the  house  and  down  the 

street, 
Until  he  rapped  upon  the  door  of  Lamon, 
To  whom  he  had  to  overflow  in  speech 
When  his  swoln  heart  would  burst  its  barriered 

banks 
And  flood  his  being's  stretches  far  and  wide, 
With  all  his  inner  Ocean's  tides  of  feeling. 
Lamon  sprang  up,  responsive  to  the  knock 
Which  tapped  his  outer  ear  expectingly 
But  touched  concordant,  too,  a  deeper  sense. 

Lamon. 
How  strange !  for  I  have  been  awaiting  you ! 
I  knew  you  somehow  stepping  on  the  way, 
Else  I  had  ere  this  started  hence  myself; 
I  felt  the  pull  between  us  in  the  distance, 
If  you  had  not  appeared  within  this  trice,    , 
I  had  set  out  e  'en  for  my  own  relief. 

Lincoln. 

My  Lamon,  friend,  more  than  the  Marshal  now, 

The  Healer  of  my  spirit's  deepest  rent, 

I  come  to  hear  thy  voioe  remedial 

And  soothe  me  in  thy  look  of  benediction. 

I  would  have  died  if  I  had  stayed  away, 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.  253 

I  could  not  rid  me  of  the  round  of  thoughts, 
The  murderous  round  of  my  self-battling  Self 
Which  let  me  live  to  slaughter  me  again. 
Already  drops  thy  presence  me  a  balm. 

Lamon. 

What  you  have  said  I  deem,  0  President, 
My  greatest  service  to  my  country's  need, 
For  what  helps  you  and  heals,  is  for  our  hope, 
And  yet  reward  enough  it  were  to  me 
If  I  can  serve  you  merely  as  your  friend. 

Lincoln. 

Thine  is  the  dear  oblation  of  a  heart 
Which  offers  all  its  wealth  to  save  the  lost, 
And  makes  itself  a  shrine  where  the  great  God 
Descends  for  worship  to  the  sinking  soul. 
My  sorrow  draws  me  hither  at  this  hour, 
I  could  no  longer  stay  my  frame  in  life, 
Or  steady  reason  to  her  anchorage 
Unless  I  brought  me  to  your  spirit  hale 
To  heal  me  with  its  ever-flowing  health. 
My  buried  boy  I  would  go  sleep  beside. 
He  was  mine  own,  my  very  self  of  self. 
And  when  he  went,  I  seemed  to  have  to  go — 
How  it  doth  pang  me  now  to  think  of  him 
Beneath  his  bare  chill  covering  of  sod ! 
He  had  my  bent,  my  brain,  and  oh  my  heart ! 
Our  souls  were  tuned  to  common  harmonies. 


254    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIV. 

Would  sing  together  in  a  concord  soft ; 
They  still  refuse  to  dwell  inseparate 
E  'en  if  the  grave  so  cruelly  says  no. 
Lamon,  to  you  I  must  make  this  confession : 
My  love  doth  hide  a  barb  of  mortal  sting, 
And  I  destroy  the  hearts  I  deepest  touch, 
When  I  unsheath  the  dagger  of  affection. 
Ann  Rutledge's  demise  you  know  about. 
My  most  beloved  son  has  followed  her, 
I  scarce  can  hold  me  back  from  going  too. 
Sometimes  I  think  when  I  and  Douglas  hearted. 
That  was  his  secret  doom — he  too  has  sped. 

Lamon. 
Remember,  friend,  the  task  unfinished  here 
Which  thou  alone  canst  do  with  Heaven's  help. 
Thou  hast  an  oath  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Life 
Pledging  fulfilment  of  a  mighty  work 
As  yet  undone,  the  acme  of  this  age : 
Break  not  the  hour-glass  of  thy  deedful  days, 
Remember  too  the  bond  of  Family 
Whose  living  ties  are  still  thine  own  in  love. 
And  the  high  promise  of  thy  office  still 
Chains  thee  in  duty's  fetters  to  the  Nation. 

Lincoln. 
Both  of  these  ties  I  know,  but  they  are  loosed, 
I  challenge  death  to  come  and  break  my  bonds 
Which  hitch  me  in  this  dreary  treadmill  here 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.         ^55 

Between  the  rising  and  the  setting  sun. 

My  love  has  passed  beyond — how  can  I  stay 

On  earth  to  be  the  poison  to  my  dearest — 

I  dare  not  love  again  lest  I  destroy, 

But  what  is  life  if  it  be  shorn  of  love  ? 

Lamon,  out  of  myself  I  feel  the  stroke  of  Fate 

Smiting  the  hearts  in  which  I  find  my  All. 

My  love  is  an  assassin  to  its  own : 

Should  I  not  slay  the  slayer — e  'en  myself  ? 

I  am  the  fatal  culprit  and  the  judge ; 

"Why  shall  I  not  be  just  by  mine  own  sentence  ? 

If  I  may  live,  I  then  must  love  no  more. 

Tramp  on  my  heart  as  bringer  of  my  guilt. 

0  Lamon,  as  I  pour  warm  glances  now 
Into  thy  sympathetic  speaking  eyes, 

1  feel  a  tremor  which  darts  through  my  soul 
That  this  my  friendship  going  out  to  thee 
May  yet  waylay  thy  life  in  stealthy  lure, 

And  be  thy  wreck  because  thou  art  my  friend — 
My  love  itself  thy  executioner. 

Lamon. 

Kest  calm;  I  could  not  die  a  better  death. 
Than  just  to  die  the  victim  of  thy  heart, 
If  I  could  choose,  be  that  my  epitaph. 
But  let  me  give  condolence  by  confession : 
I  too  have  known  such  self-undoing  thoughts ; 
And  every  man  at  some  unhappy  pinch 
Has  dreamed  perchance  to  quit  him  of  his  lot 


256    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XIV. 

By  getting  rid  of  life  itself  at  once. 
We  all  are  Hamlets  at  some  time  or  other 
And  balance  pros  and  cons  of  our  existence, 
Letting  them  teeter  up  and  down  unsettled. 
Such  questioning  I  had  e'en  in  my  youth, 
And  still  I  am  alive  to  let  you  know ; 
Let  me  commend  to  you  my  safe  example. 

Lincoln. 
'Tis  well  you  switch  me  off  my  mood  to  humor, 
And  slyly  let  me  glimpse  of  me  in  you. 
Friend,  I  have  had  to  run  from  suicide, 
And  flee  to  you  to  save  me  from  myself 
Who  am  in  dread  pursuit  to  be  no  more. 
I  turn  to  w^ords  my  self-upbraiding  thoughts 
Which  triturate  me  back  to  human  dust. 
I  lift  those  words  out  of  my  grinding  depths 
And  in  them  hand  to  you  my  daggered  grief 
Then  list  your  soothing  tones  remedial 
To  cure  my  melancholy's  malady. 

Lamon. 

So  make  one  uplift  high  unto  your  own ! 
Just  only  think  what  Fortune  now  is  bringing 
To  you  in  joy  from  out  your  West  and  mine ! 
That  strong  embattled  line  is  broken  there 
And  fled  in  scattered  fragments  toward  the  Gulf. 
Contemplate  that  for  comfort  new  and  hope, 
Withdraw  thy  brooding  soul  out  of  itself 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.  257 

And  view  thy  grander  task  of  History, 

Which  now  is  taking  a  gigantic  stride, 

"Whose  goal  we  glimpse  through  great  occurrences 

And  catch  the  ken  of  far  futurity. 

Lincoln. 

All  that  is  right  and  sane,  I  know  it  well. 
But  can  it  balsam  for  me  heart-struck  woes? 
Can  it  bring  back  my  boy  beneath  my  eye? 
Restore  the  shattered  love  which  Fate  has  smitten  ? 
And  medicine  in  me  that  deepest  wound 
Which  pierces  to  the  source  of  all  existence? 

Lamon. 

But  think  of  those  who  still  are  left  for  love — 
Sons  still  remain  to  you — and  friends  like  me, — 
Leave  us  not  all  in  blank  forgetfulness. 
Chiefly  a  wife  you  have,  a  wedded  helper. 
Who  should  be  hearted  in  your  very  life. 

Lincoln. 
Confessor  mine,  again  I  must  speak  out 
The  darkest  secret  of  my  stressful  lot ; 
Two  fealties  I  have  to  women  due, 
The  one  belongs  beyond,  to  an  immortal, 
The  fountain-soul  bestowing  tenderness, 
The  source  of  all  my  deeds  of  charity ; 
Her  image  sways  unbidden  all  my  days 
And  on  me  unaware  oft  lays  her  spell. 


258    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIV. 

The  other  is  my  mortal  helpmeet  here 
And  rules  with  loyal  mind  my  household  seen, 
The  law's  allegiance  she  in  full  receives 
From  strongest  sense  of  duty  that  I  own. 
And  yet  alongside  of  this  lower  home 
I  have  an  upper  home  beyond  my  will, 
Which  drops  down  on  me  by  its  self-made  law. 
Lamon,  that  is  to  me  my  harshest  lot, 
To  feel  my  very  love  divided  in  itself. 
Tearing  in  two  my  heart  with  double  pains. 
Dividing  holy  duty  which  is  one. 

Lamon. 

What  you  now  tell  me  in  your  confidence 
Has  not  been  hid  from  me  this  many  a  year. 
I  know  too  that  your  mate  has  cognizance 
Of  this  true  love  ideal  of  yours  above, 
And  cannot  always  stay  her  jealousy. 

Lincoln. 
I  dare  not  blame  her  for  her  gusts  of  passion, 
Nor  can  I  help  myself  from  loving  love; 
So  I  endure  the  ever-bleeding  scission. 
I  try  to  speak  of  it  the  least  I  can, 
And  yet  my  heart  bursts  out  despite  myself 
To  sympathetic  converse  at  the  White-House 
When  mood  of  memory  floods  overpouring, 
Or  when  Fate's  utterance  surprises  me. 
She  marked  me  mutter  once  the  name  of  Ann 


LINCOLN'S  LAMENT  OVER  HIS  SON.         259 

In  sleep  as  I  lay  dreaming  at  her  side, 
My  revery  she  has  too  overheard 
In  tender  talk  with  some  dear  presence  else ; 
And  once  a  gossip  told  her  my  first  love 
Whose  loss  awhile  shook  reason  on  its  throne. 

Lamon. 
It  is  a  doom  perverse  of  destiny ! 
I  '11  tell  you  what  my  dearest  uttered  once, 
As  we  talked  over  how  we  might  give  help : 
' '  Poor  Mary !  her  fatality  it  is 
To  keep  that  lost  love  active  evermore 
Within  her  husband's  longing  memory 
By  her  high  temper — that 's  her  fate  and  his ! 
She  ought  to  win  that  specter's  place  supreme 
Herself,  by  lady's  subtle  tact  of  love 
Making  him  choose  the  real  for  the  ghost. ' ' 
So  spake  me  one  who  knows  the  way  to  do  it. 
And  I  recount  it  as  a  woman's  way 
To  solve  a  knotty  problem  of  her  sex. 
But  stop,  we  wander  from  the  task  before  us 
Which  it  to  bring  M'Clellan  and  his  army 
To  break  across  rebellion's  front  of  battle, 
Force  him  to  do  the  deed  of  Donelson 
Here  in  the  East  so  well  equipped  and  drilled, 

Lincoln. 
You  well  have  called  me  back  into  the  world 
In  which  we  live  for  duty's  high  performance; 


260    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XI7. 

Tomorrow  I  must  see  that  start  be  made 
To  bring  the  Fatal  Line  once  more  to  trial, 
If  it  be  drawn  of  Heaven  against  our  cause, 
Or  in  ourselves  that  we  the  weakling  be, 
Unable  to  compel  our  destiny. 

Lamon. 
That  is  the  note  which  I  have  longed  to  hear, 
Now  think  of  Mac  and  drive  him  to  the  deed, 
Be  not  like  him  of  paralytic  Will, 
Mooding  your  time  away  in  deedless  gloom. 
Your  trusty  messenger  I  would  now  be 
To  bear  the  mandate  of  the  hour :  "Advance" ! 

Lincoln. 
You  are  a  little  late  in  that,  my  friend ; 
Already  I  have  ordered  him  to  move 
And  break  the  Fatal  Line  which  ramparts  Rich- 
mond. 
Here  comes  a  messenger  with  newest  news : 
Hark !  Mae  is  off  for  the  Peninsula. 
Another  stage  begins  of  this  sad  war, 
One  tear  I  drop  again  for  my  lost  boy ! 
My  love  of  him  must  now  rise  up  to  be 
A  new  devotion  to  the  Nation.    Farewell,  Lamon. 


mix  Jfiftontl^, 


Lincoln  at  Harrison's  Landing. 

Behold  now  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  Ocean, 
Swayed  up  and  down  and  swirled  around  about 
By  tide  and  wind  and  wave  tumultuous, 
As  centered  mid  the  warring  elements ! 
The  stalwart  vessel  which  is  bearing  him 
From  the  Potomac  to  the  big-mouthed  James, 
Reels  storm-smit  on  the  waters  to  its  side, 
Then  straightens  up  again  to  meet  the  blast 
As  if  to  fight  its  foe  upon  its  feet, 
Refusing  still  to  sink  when  stricken  down 
And  halfway  buried  in  the  plunging  seas. 
But  suddenly  the  tempest  gathers  up 
To  concentrated  rage  the  skies  above 
And  waves  below,  and  smites  trip-hammer-like 

(261) 


262    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

Its  topmost  thrust  upon  the  tottering  craft, 
As  this  rolls  round  the  toothed  Viginia  coast 
And  turns  the  point  where  lies  Fortress  Monroe 
Into  the  calmer  roadstead  of  the  James. 

But  Lincoln  braved  a  mightier  storm  within 

Than  all  the  roar  of  Oceanic  floods, 

Though  he  was  sidelings  tossed  in  body  oft 

By  the  precipitancy  of  the  boat. 

He  pondered  what  had  happened  these  last  months ; 

His  hope  of  victory  had  been  shattered  all, 

M  'Clellan  's  army  had  recoiled  from  Richmond 

Blasting  the  Nation's  grand  expectancy. 

And  now  it  lay  again  inside  its  lines 

Peacefully  lulled  as  once  at  Washington, 

Secure  behind  the  gunboats  in  the  river, 

Though  foiled  of  hope  and  shrinking  from  attack. 

So  Lincoln  was  come  do^Ti  to  see  the  troops 

And  judge  in  person  of  the  situation ; 

His  voyage  raged  a  tumult  of  the  soul, 

"With  gloom  of  nature  clouding  the  horizon, 

As  he  bethought  himself  of  the  mishaps 

Which  had  overwhelmed  him  and  the  People  too, 

Pursuing  the  high  end  to  save  the  Nation. 

In  all  his  play  of  moods  one  fact  would  weave 

And  drive  him  to  his  wonted  monologue : 

* '  As  now  alone  I  stand  upon  this  deck 

And  gaze  off  yonder  up  the  James, 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        263 

To  where  both  armies  lie  with  front  to  front, 
What  is  it  that  I  see  most  prominent, 
Aye  the  most  real  thing  within  my  vision, 
E  'en  if  I  know  it  sprung  but  of  myself. 
Merely  an  image  feigned  of  mine  own  mind  ? 
It  is  that  Line  again,  that  Fatal  Line 
Drawn  by  the  compasses  of  destiny 
Between  the  South  and  North  in  war  enranked, 
Which  erst  I  saw  Virginia's  spectre  trace. 
And  then  to  run  with  blood  on  Bull  Run's  field. 
Here  it  now  winds  more  deeply  rifted  stiU 
Though  other  be  the  grim  locality ; 
Behold!  it  bends  and  rears  and  coils  around 
Like  some  prodigious  serpent  of  old  Earth, 
Whose  fell  constriction  circles  our  whole  land. 
Crushing  it  from  Ocean  East  to  Ocean  West, 
Till  it  shall  swoon  in  impotence  asunder. 
Somehow  that  lissome  body  serpentine 
Will  keep  its  place,  though  folded  round  about. 
Ever  between  the  two  contending  hosts ; 
If  we  assail  it,  then  it  sways  and  curves 
But  will  not  open  at  a  single  joint ; 
Within  four  miles  of  Richmond  once  it  bent 
Beneath  our  fierce  attack,  but  never  broke; 
And  now  'tis  lying  yonder  coiled  at  ease, 
Sunning  itself  after  the  victory ; 
But  it  will  roll  its  spirals  up  in  wrath 
Impassable  for  us  if  we  dare  try 


264    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

To  cross  beyond  its  fiery  boundary 
For  seizure  of  the  Southern  Capital, 
"Which  it  enfolds  within  its  stout-ribbed  rings 
As  its  own  heart  of  hot  secession. ' ' 

Thus  Lincoln  talking  in  his  self 's  debate 

Would  hold  his  inner  conferences, 

As  his  staunch  craft  kept  crawling  up  the  river 

Round  many  a  bay  and  bend  of  twisted  stream 

Which  never  failed  to  prompt  his  thought 's  renewal ; 

"And  yet  if  we  cannot  transpierce  that  Line 

We  are  a  nation  losing  destiny, 

Forever  rent  to  hating  halves. 

What  can  it  mean,  this  trial  long  and  bloody. 

As  if  to  train  us  to  the  test  supreme 

Of  doing  the  one  deed  as  yet  undone  ? 

For  I  cannot  believe  the  Powers  quit  us. 

Thwarting  the  time  of  its  unfinished  task. 

What  is  the  lacking  link  in  Heaven's  chain 

So  that  we  fail  to  gain  our  higher  goal  ? 

That  missing  part  I  have  to  find  and  mend,  " 

Or  weakling  give  myself  as  conquered. 

Our  lot  seems  knotted  in  one  man — M  'Clellan ! 

As  much  my  problem  he  has  come  to  be 

As  is  the  war  itself  here  staggering, 

Of  whose  enigma  dread  he  is  the  tangle. 

His  character,  his  purposes,  his  army. 

What  are  his  instincts  deeper  than  he  knows, 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        265 

I  voyage  hitherward  to  probe  into, 

Though  I  had  thought  to  glimpse  them  all  before 

Through  study  of  our  testing  intercourse ; 

This  new  experience  breeds  a  change  in  him. 

I  tried  to  push  him  off  from  Washington 

For  months  and  months ;  he  would  not  budge  a  step 

Until  I  bade  him  start  by  sheer  command 

And  took  unwillingly  myself  his  place, 

Proverbing  that  the  bottom  would  drop  out 

Unless  that  army  dared  its  destined  deed. 

I  hoped  to  have  him  break  that  Fatal  Line 

And  follow  in  the  "Western  wake  of  triumph 

E'en  if  the  enterprise  be  here  the  harder. 

But  think  it !  after  these  three  months  and  more, 

That  Line  lies  drawn  out  yonder  just  the  same. 

Unbroken  still  at  any  single  joint. 

What  means  this  trial,  0  ye  Powers  above  ? 

Say,  is  that  rifting  token  stamped  of  God  ? ' ' 

The  boat  swerved  round,  as  Lincoln  outward  glanced, 
And  marked  the  Landing  at  the  river's  bend, 
Called  Harrison's  where  he  had  planned  to  moor; 
And  still  the  problematical  M'Clellan 
He  would  keep  turning  over  in  his  mind : 
"Sometimes  I  have  to  think  despite  myself 
That  Mac  loves  not  our  central  Washington, 
And  might  uncover  it  of  its  defence 
Till  I  be  prisoner  or  fugitive. 


266    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

He  does  uot  like  the  rule  political, 
Unless  it  should  be  centered  in  himself 
Trained  to  the  military  consciousness, 
Somehow  he  quite  ignores  our  Capital 
To  have  the  first  necessity  of  life. 
The  European  soldiership  he  types 
Whose  spirit  he  ingrains  to  be  his  own ; 
The  standing  army  stamped  is  on  his  brain, 
To  that  all  else  must  be  subordinate. 
Even  the  Civil  Power  exists  for  it. 
Not  outwardly  alone  in  sheen's  parade. 
But  inwardly  that  discipline  for  war 
Has  reached  and  overmade  his  character, 
Till  it  will  brook  nought  but  itself  as  final. 
There  flashes  on  my  mind  this  inference : 
The  training  of  M'Clellan  never  can 
Obliterate  yon  fatal  boundary 
For  it  is  his,  drawn  in  his  brain ; 
Transcending  it,  he  must  transcend  himself 
Which  all  his  acts  have  shown  he  cannot  do.     " 
His  drill  is  physical,  yet  more  of  soul ; 
The  common  soldier  feels  his  inner  touch 
Which  upward  thrills  to  highest  officer, 
So  that  they  all  are  fused  with  him  in  love 
From  top  to  bottom  of  this  army  whole ; 
Courageous  it  has  shown  itself  in  fight 
When  it  is  at  defence  against  the  foe ; 
But  it  recoils  from  that  offensive  stroke 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        267 

Which  means  the  breach  of  our  fatality. 
M'Clellan's  very  self  it  seems  so  like 
As  if  it  were  by  love  insoiiled  of  him, 
Without  his  person  quite  examinate. 
Can  I  dare  separate  him  from  that  body — " 

But  ere  he  could  be  answered  by  himself, 

The  boat  ground  sideiings  on  the  groaning  wharf. 

Where  he  commanded  that  it  should  be  moored 

And  kept  in  readiness  at  his  disposal. 

But  who  is  that  that  waits  him  on  the  pier  ? 

M'Clellan  with  a  gleaming  entourage 

Of  officers,  the  jewels  of  his  staff, 

Who  flashed  their  radiance  on  homely  Lincoln 

As  he  stepped  forth  untrimmed  of  personage, 

With  looks  beridden  by  his  night-mared  thought, 

Which  told  him  a  much-troubled  President, 

E  'en  if  he  tried  to  sparkle  in  response 

A  care-worn  smile  and  little  glints  of  humor. 

The  company  moves  to  M'Clellan's  tent 

Through  all  the  forms  of  war  and  right  parade 

Which  showed  no  droop  of  soldier's  discipline. 

When  they  arrived  and  both  alone  together, 

M'Clellan  made  reply  to  Lincoln's  query: 

"Outnumbered  \ve  have  fought,  yes  two  to  one, 

E  'en  more,  I  think ;  and  yet  despite  the  odds 

I  have  retrieved  my  troops  from  field  of  danger, 

And  brought  them  back  within  the  line  of  safety 


268    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

By  my  own  deed  of  arms ;  I  owe  uo  thanks 

For  this  success  to  you  of  Washington — 

You  who  have  done  your  best  to  sacrifice 

This  army  true  to  me  whose  valor  thwarts  you. ' ' 

Mute  Lincoln  listened  to  the  words  of  blame 

And  marked  their  confirmation  of  his  thought, 

But  soon  he  wheeled  around  to  leave  the  tent 

Saying  a  word  with  mien  composed 

And  tone  of  judgment's  impartiality: 

' '  Well,  I  must  hear  all  of  the  evidence : 

So  I  shall  summon  me  the  officers 

Of  high  command  in  this  fierce  Seven  Days '  battle. ' ' 

"Hold  your  inquiry  here,"  M'Clellan  said; 

' '  Thanks  for  your  courtesy,  but  I  have  ready 

My  private  quarters  on  the  quiet  boat," 

Spoke  up  the  President  and  nodded  starting 

Although  M'Clellan  sorely  urged  his  stay. 

Then  Lincoln  called  the  leading  Generals 

To  testify  what  they  might  know  and  think 

Of  the  campaign  which  had  turned  out  so  ill.  ■ 

They  all  agreed  that  this  withdrawal  strange 

Sprang  not  of  a  defeat,  nor  of  a  need. 

That  they  repelled  attack  successfully ; 

Some  said  outright  they  could  have  taken  Richmond 

Within  the  sight  of  which  they  lay  a  month. 

Then  came  the  sudden  order  for  retreat 

And  once  to  burn  the  baggage  and  the  trains, 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.         269 

Aye,  e'en  was  mentioned  a  capitulation 

Though  from  such  scares  there  was  recovery. 

The  whole  upturned  the  strangest  history. 

No  sooner  would  a  given  line  be  touched 

With  some  smart  overflow  of  energy 

When  the  rebound  would  strike  in  sudden  force 

And  with  it  followed  a  paralysis 

From  which  the  army  took  no  forward  step, 

Although  the  prize  hung  tempting  in  their  eyes, 

Aye  in  their  reach,  so  said  one  General, 

If  they  would  but  extend  their  arm  in  might ; 

Then  Mac  became  a  sudden  fugitive, 

And  sent  his  hurried  word  to  Washington 

Announcing  great  calamity  befallen 

With  possibility  of  his  surrender. 

But  mark  the  telling  counterstroke ! 

Whene'er  the  foe  assailed  in  turn  our  ranks, 

He  was  thrown  back  with  greater  loss  than  ours. 

If  he  dared  touch  in  fight  the  line  offensive 

He     drooped     down     maimed     with     sanguinary 

slaughter. 
From  Beaver  Dam,  Gaines'  Mill  and  White  Oak 

Swamp, 
Up  to  his  last  repulse  at  Malvern  Hill. 
E  'en  the  most  active  spirit  of  the  war. 
Famed  Stonewall  Jackson  felt  the  electric  shock 
And  seemed  to  lose  his  bold  initiative, 


270    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

When  he  ran  on  the  bound  at  Frayser's  Farm 
And  drew  back  to  himself  unwilled. 

In  truth  the  victory  remained  with  Fate, 
Both  sides  had  been  defeated  of  their  end, 
If  we  but  look  at  them  in  vision  whole 
Which  rises  to  the  view  of  Power  supreme; 
That  Fatal  Line  itself  was  conqueror 
Avenging  each  assault  upon  its  being, 
Come  its  assailant  from  the  North  or  South. 
Such  was  the  blood-stained  oracle  again 
Which  Lincoln  heard  in  speech  of  Generals 
Who  fought  through  that  Peninsular  Campaign 
Deposing  to  him  what  they  saw  and  did. 

The  oracle  was  plain  enough  outside 

And  yet  some  deeper  meaning  in  it  couched 

Which  Lincoln  felt  he  must  find  out  or  die. 

And  so  at  last  he  calls  M'Clellan  too. 

Bidding  this  leader  to  his  boat  alone 

That  he  may  have  a  final  conference. 

The  little  gorgeous  General  steps  up 

In  his  rank's  uniform  most  exquisite. 

Yet  with  a  drawn  disdain  upon  his  lip 

Which  hardly  moved  a  word  at  Lincoln's  greeting, 

As  he  at  once  reached  to  the  President 

A  paper  written  out  at  length  with  care : 

' '  This  will  say  all  that  now  I  have  to  tell. ' ' 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        271 

So  he  spake  up,  then  begged  to  be  excused 
As  he  had  weighty  business  on  his  hands. 

The  President  began  to  read  and  ponder, 

"While  in  an  underbreath  he  self -communed : 

"Ah  yes!  I  understand!  how  good  my  luck! 

Here  is  a  document  political 

For  my  perusal  handed  me  by  Mac ! 

Not  military,  which  is  his  domain, 

He  pays  me  back  for  trenching  on  what 's  his 

Or  what  he  deems  his  own  by  right  divine. 

He  tells  me  all  about  the  policy 

"Which  I  should  follow  in  my  civil  acts; 

Its  tone  is  somewhat  dictatorial 

As  if  my  duty  better  than  myself 

He  knew,  and  would  prescribe  it  me  aright. 

Polite  enough  and  yet  impertinent — 

It  shows  he  has  in  mind  this  place  of  mine, 

And  thinks  on  my  affairs  more  than  his  own, 

Not  soldiership  seems  here  his  first  ambition, 

I  knew  he  had  such  hankering  before. 

And  yet  I  thought  if  he  were  once  away 

From  party  intrigues  of  the  Capital 

He  might  show  forth  his  better  self — but  no ! 

And  yet  here  lies  no  danger  to  our  cause, 

As  he  is  impotent  without  success, 

Failure  is  not  the  soldier's  path  to  power. 

Retreat  he  cannot  to  supremacy. 


272    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

Indeed  I  'm  glad  he  wrote  me  this  advice, 

It  shows  a  weakness  I  must  remedy ; 

A  leader  he  will  be  political 

And  starts  with  a  pronouncement  to  his  own 

More  than  to  me,  as  I  see  into  it. 

And  a  still  deeper  lesson  I  can  draw : 

He  writes  the  Fatal  Line  within  himself, 

More  plain  I  see  it  now  than  e  'er  before, 

He  cannot  pass  it  here  and  go  to  Richmond, 

Not  if  his  re-inforcement  be  threefold. 

For  he  must  overcome  himself  to  do  it ; 

Such  feat  of  self -transcendence  is  not  his. 

So  I  shall  take  this  army  from  the  James, 

And  start  it  over  in  a  new  advance, 

And  with  a  leader  new  brought  from  the  West 

"Where  no  such  breach  infects  the  soldier's  soul. 

And  still  I  feel  the  peril  of  the  act — 

To  break  the  bond  of  love  between  these  troops 

And  their  commander  whom  they  still  adore. 

Although  he  w^ill  not  fight  but  on  retreat. 

This  mystery  of  military  love 

Baffles  me — yet  'tis  the  universal  tie — 

And  little  Mac  has  made  it  all  his  own, 

Stamping  it  on  the  very  consciousness 

Of  every  blue-coat  serving  under  him 

In  these  trained  months  of  steady  discipline. 

0  would  that  I  might  catch  from  him  the  secret. 

Transferring  to  the  President's  best  right 


LZA^OOLJV  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        273 

That  fire  which  melts  these  hearts  of  soldiery, 
But  which  M'Clellan  kindles  for  himself!" 
Here  Lincoln  rose  in  longing  agitation, 
He  paced  the  deck  and  looked  out  on  the  sea, 
And  sighed  to  watch  its  boundless  vacancy. 
Then  swept  his  glance  back  to  the  shore 's  hard  limit. 

The  little  vessel  meanwhile  had  begun 

To  puff  its  steamy  breath  full  heavily. 

Ready  to  breast  again  the  Ocean's  wrath 

As  Lincoln's  face  relaxed  to  short  relief: 

' '  I  see  now  what  I  have  to  do  with  Mac : 

He  will  assert  the  line  against  the  foe. 

But  he  will  never  pass  it  with  his  forces, 

In  him  that  lies  not,  nor  in  this  army,   . 

As  long  as  at  its  head  he  has  the  sway ; 

So  that  my  resolution  gleams  to  this : 

I  shall  supplant  him,  for  he  can 't  advance ; 

But  if  disaster  drives  us  to  defence 

And  to  maintain  the  line  against  attack, 

Mac  is  the  man,  good  fortune  crowns  him  there. 

The  master  of  his  huge  machine  of  war. 

Just  now  the  rebels  over  yonder  shrink 

To  grapple  with  that  soul-drawn  Line  of  Fate, 

Which  he  himself  in  turn  dares  not  transgress ; 

Such  is  his  strength  and  limit  of  his  strength, 

Such  is  their  strength  and  limit  of  their  strength. 

Both  of  these  sides  stand  out  alike  in  this : 


274    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  ZV. 

Both  are  clinched  fast  in  fixed  Destiny, 

And  dare  not  move  beyond  her  bound  laid  down. 

But  ah!  that  means  the  separation  won, 

It  seals  the  triumph  of  Disunion. 

But  that  is  what  I  shall  not  yield, 

And  so  again  I  challenge  Fate  itself 

To  meet  me  in  this  wrestle  for  supremacy; 

Though  I  be  tumbled  by  it  in  my  grave 

I  shall  defy  it  to  the  utter  test 

Till  one  or  both  be  sent  to  last  account. 

The  battle  of  all  battles  in  this  war 

The  furious  headlong  combat  desperate, 

"Which  keeps  renewed  again  and  still  again, 

I  see  it  well,  its  wild  contorted  rages, 

It  sways  between  me  and  that  Fatal  Line, 

Which  still  Virginia  draws  upon  her  soil 

As  once  her  spectre  with  it  circled  me ; 

That  fiend  I  have  to  sabre  now  in  twain 

Or  else  be  crunched  to  death  within  its  jaws. 

Such  is  the  one  long  duel  of  my  life 

In  which  this  Nation's  death  I  must  destroy 

Though  it  may  grip  me  in  the  very  deed. ' ' 

Meanwhile  the  boat  had  swung  out  to  the  sea 
Passing  beyond  the  view  of  narrowed  James, 
On  the  return  to  sovereign  "Washington ; 
An  Ocean  breeze  blew  smiling  out  the  sky 
And  soothed  the  President's  hot  furrowed  brow 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        275 

As  off  into  the  Future's  blue-lit  haze 

He  flung  some  prying  glances  well  ahead  : 

' '  Yes,  I  shall  shift  this  Line  which  keeps  so  fixed 

Just  here  around  the  hostile  Capital 

Into  some  other  place  of  luck,  I  hope, 

That  we  may  start  once  more  to  wage  its  breach, 

"Which  is  the  blood-sprent  prize  of  all  this  duel. 

And  yet  the  deeper  question  must  come  up : 

This  year's  vast  loss  topped  out  with  grim  reverse. 

Whose  poignancy  makes  quiver  every  nerve, 

What  does  it  mean,  what  does  it  say  to  me. 

To  all  the  Nation,  from  the  throne  above  ? 

M'Clellan  in  his  failures  and  his  faults 

Is  but  a  means  for  something  greater  planned, 

An  instrument  is  he — and  so  am  I — 

In  hand  of  Higher  Power  dirigent 

Unto  His  end,  not  ours,  which  oft  I  pray 

To  know,  that  I  might  help  the  First  Designer ; 

In  all  our  errors  and  this  waste  of  blood 

I  would  detect  the  clouded  goal  supernal ; 

I  feel  that  under  discipline  we  cry 

To  Heaven — but  for  what  ?  and  to  what  end  ? 

I  query  oft,  what  signifies  this  Line 

From  which  M'Clellan  quails  at  the  mere  touch ; 

General  though  he  be,  out-generaled 

He  is  at  first  by  Lee  and  then  by  Heaven ; 

And  yet  Lee  flinches  too  just  at  this  crossing, 

Where  over  both  stands  the  one  Conqueror, 


276    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

Whom  still  I  have  to  conquer,  else  be  fated. 
But  oh !  this  world  of  men,  this  dismal  world 
Appeareth  to  me  now  M'Clellan's  world 
With  Fatal  Line  enringed  everywhere; 
And  God  Himself,  the  Ruler  over  all, 
Seems  to  become  one  vast  M'Clellan  too 
As  the  last  sovereign  of  the  Universe." 

Whereat  high  Lincoln  shrank  down  in  a  seat 

As  crushed  to  nothingness  by  his  own  thought, 

Which  fell  an  iron  sledge  upon  his  brain ; 

But  swooning  through  his  zero  he  uprose 

Taller  to  meet  his  task  than  e  'er  before ; 

Thus  he  bespoke  afresh  his  newer  soul : 

' '  That  Fatal  Line  doth  lie  in  me  myself, 

And  in  the  People  too — I  see  it  now — 

It  thwarts  us  in  ourselves  from  the  beginning. 

First  I  must  tear  it  out  of  mine  own  self 

Ere  I  can  work  such  miracle  for  others ; 

Imbedded  in  the  Law  and  Constitution 

It  lurks  from  starting  of  the  Government. 

But  all  the  more  I  must  remove  its  curse 

From  out  the  Nation 's  wonted  consciousness ; 

Then  ours,  me  thinks,  will  perch  glad  victory 

Sent  down  to  us  by  the  world's  overlord 

Who  now  averts  his  help  and  sympathy, 

And  makes  the  foe's  success  our  punishment 

If  we  advance  to  drive  them  from  their  stronghold. 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        277 

And  yet  I  must  re-think  the  self-same  trait 

Is  stamped  upon  our  adversaries  too ; 

They  are  whelmed  back  again  from  all  assault, 

If  they  but  dare  advance  upon  the  limit. 

The  blue  and  gray  show  quite  alike  therein ; 

Each  quails  recoiling  from  the  Fatal  Line 

"Which  blazes  up  a  Hell  to  either  side, 

Whichever  of  them  undertakes  to  cross  it. 

So  Richmond  cannot  come  to  Washington, 

And  Washington  in  turn  cannot  reach  Richmond: 

They  stand  apart  and  glare  in  impotence 

Across  the  wall  w^hich  neither  can  transcend. 

0  is  that  wall  built  by  the  hand  of  God 

And  so  forbidden  to  us  both  on  high ! 

Two  answers  have  been  given  by  the  deed : 

The  East  says  yes,  but  hark !  the  West  says  no. 

If  we  may  take  the  action  as  the  word. 

And  I  say  no,  it  is  not  Heaven 's  work 

But  is  self-made  our  own  infernal  pit 

Into  whose  chasm  this  Nation  threats  to  fall. 

But  I  am  not  to  let  it  though  I  sink. 

That  Fatal  Line  itself  I  shall  now  grip, 

And  slay  the  fiend  which  rives  our  country  twain. ' ' 

The  early  morn  was  idling  on  the  boat 
Which  cut  its  way  through  billows  of  the  river 
While  in  the  distant  sky  an  outline  dawned 
Which  rounded  soon  into  the  Capitol, 


278    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XV. 

Lincoln  was  looking  homeward  from  the  deck 
As  it  would  swim  along  Potomac's  ripples, 
When  he  beheld  uprise  the  Nation's  seat 
Enthroned  in  sheen  of  new  transparency: 
' '  I  see  it  now,  the  world  grows  out  to  daylight ; 
That  Fatal  Line  which  I  must  clinch  as  death 
Is  slavery  dividing  North  and  South ; 
It  is  the  wall  of  fire  which  I  must  pass 
Myself  by  might  of  will  as  President, 
Though  it  be  fortressed  in  our  Constitution, 
And  after  me  lead  o'er  it  all  my  army. 
Marching  across  it,  through  it  breached  to  frag- 
ments. 
Until  beneath  the  tread  of  soldiery 
It  shall  be  trampled  out  all  time  to  come 
The  People  willing  thus  with  me  their  Will. ' ' 

Already  had  the  vessel  neared  the  wharf 
When  Lincoln's  eager  eye  was  dazzled  shut 
By  the  almighty  glare  of  sunlit  strength 
Shot  from  the  Capitol's  unfinished  dome; 
Whereat  he  whispered  in  himself  a  prayer 
To  his  Creator  lipped  in  fervency 
That  he  would  smite  with  all  his  power  of  office 
The  Fatal  Line  dividing  slave  from  freeman : 
' '  Hear  me,  0  God,  to  thee  I  throb  my  vow. 
The  duty  long  deferred  by  policy 
I  shall  outfill  it  full  in  nearest  time, 


LINCOLN  AT  HARRISON'S  LANDING.        279 

For  thou  dost  bid  me  by  thy  potent  Presence : 

Emancipation  is  the  word  divine 

To  which  I  voice  the  human  utterance ; 

I  promise  thee  from  broken  mellowed  heart, 

Which  speaks  contrition  mine  and  all  the  People's, 

Our  freedom 's  fatal  bound  I  shall  undo 

When  I  may  hear  as  thine  the  moment  come. ' ' 


i00h  Sktetntl^, 


The  South's  Resurgence, 

The  President. 
I  have  come  over  to  you,  Mr.  Secretary,  to  hear 
the  latest  news  of  the  long  battle  which  seems  to 
be  raging  all  the  way  between  here  and  Richmond. 
Then  you  know  I  never  fail  to  be  instructed  by 
your  view  of  the  situation,  even  if  I  may  not  be 
able  to  follow  it. 

Secretary  of  War. 

Yes,  I  am  well  aware  that  you  are  too  tender- 
hearted for  a  war  like  this.  You  will  revoke  my 
stern  but  necessary  orders,  and  pardon  black 
criminals  whom  I  would  hang  or  shoot. 

The  President. 
I  grant  that  you  are  a  very  needful  man  to  me 
for  tempering  my  too  lenient,  perhaps  too  flabby 
(280) 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGEXCE.  ogl 

disposition.  I  hope  that  when  our  acts  are  brought 
before  Time's  judgment-seat,  they  may  be  de- 
cided to  be  a  right  happy  admixture  of  those  two 
opposing  virtues,  Justice  and  Mercy. 

Secretary  of  War. 
I  am  the  old  Roman :  Fiat  justicia,  ruat  coelum. 
Titanic  old  Latin  words  of  the  inflexible  law,  four 
of  them  but  enough.  I  eat  them  daily  to  tone  my- 
self up  with  the  iron  of  their  Will,  which  I  would 
put  into  my  heart 's  blood.  I  shall  not  say  them  in 
English,  they  sound  too  weak  and  too  many. 

The  President. 

I  think  I  understand,  though  my  Latin  be 
shaky — you  are  yourself  their  translation,  and  I 
believe  a  matchless  one.  Still  as  for  me  I  do  not 
want  the  Heavens  to  break  down  over  our  heads 
in  consequence  of  Justice — for  what  would  then 
become  of  Justice  herself?  Now  I  am  tempted  to 
cite  you  in  counterplay,  after  the  fashion  of  a  par- 
rot, four  other  Latin  words  M^hich  I  have  repeat- 
edly come  upon  in  my  legal  reading:  Summum 
jus,  summa  injuria.  Translate  them  for  me  not 
only  into  words  but  into  life,  my  altogether  just 
friend. 

Secretary  of  War. 

I  see  what  you  are  squinting  at  again — M'Clel- 
lan.    My  damnation  of  him  holds,  I  shall  not  yield, 


282    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVI. 

I  shall  issue  no  order  for  his  restoration  to  com- 
mand— let  worst  come  to  worst. 

The  President. 
There  you  are  again.     But  see  with  an  all-in- 
clusive eye  the  lowering  situation.     After  a  seven 
days'  bloody  fight,  and  a  hundred  days'  writheing 
campaign,  we  have  recoiled  from  Richmond — 

Secretary  of  War. 

Within  sight  of  whose  spires  M'Clellan  lay  a 
month,  and  no  positive  blow  struck. 

The  President. 

I  have  been  studying  the  man,  the  army,  and  my- 
self on  the  ground.  Between  his  side  and  the 
rebel  Capital  the  Fatal  Line  was  drawn ;  he  could 
not  prick  a  bayonet  into  it  without  a  strange  con- 
vulsion in  his  own  soul,  as  if  he  were  somehow  a 
part  of  the  organism  which  he  was  assailing.  And 
not  he  alone — 

Secretary  of  War. 

Your  imagination  is  tricking  you  again,  prod- 
ded by  that  unruled  sympathy  of  yours.  There  is 
no  such  Line. 

The  President. 

Indeed !  no  such  Line !  When  he  and  his  troops, 
pushing  forward  in  fight  would  touch  it  with  the 
tips   of  their   soldier   shoes,   then   would   come   a 


THE  SOUTH'S  RESURGENCE.  283 

shock  and  a  recoil,  which  would  not  only  stop  but 
startle  him,  yea  would  frighten  him  as  if  it  were 
some  supernatural  warning  sent  from  above  not 
to  transgress  that  bound. 

Secretary  of  War. 
Crass  cussedness  in  him,  if  not  treason.     I  see 
that  you  are  trying  to  defend  him.    Recollect  that 
I  shall  not — no,  I  shall  not — I  shall  resign — 

The  President. 

Hold  there!  Mark,  I  am  trying  to  understand 
M'Clellan — that  I  have  to  do  both  for  his  sake 
and  ours.  I  must  know  what  he  can  and  cannot 
perform.  "Well,  here  comes  Seward,  with  whom  I 
have  promised  to  take  a  thoughtful  promenade. 
Goodbye,  my  invaluable  help — but  reflect  a  little 
on  Mercy. 

Secretary  of  State. 

(Enters.)  Shall  we  not  go  in  and  have  a  chat 
with  Stanton?  I  think  he  needs  a  little  toning  up 
— or  perchance  down. 

The  President. 
He  and  I  have  just  had  our  lesson  to-day,  which 
is  enough  for  once.  "We  all  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
mighty  resurgence  of  the  Confederacy,  whose 
troops,  having  hit  ours  some  hard  blows,  came  also 
to  a  standstill.     Down  at  Harrison's  Landing  I 


284    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  ZVI. 

saw  the  two  opponents  as  they  stood  staring  at 
each  other  in  paralytic  wonder,  neither  side  daring 
to  touch  the  other  in  attack.  But  the  enemy, 
elated  that  they  had  pushed  the  constricting  ser- 
pent's coil  from  their  Capital's  door,  resolve  to 
search  some  weaker  jDoint  to  breach.  The  daring 
Jackson  starts  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  driv- 
ing our  blue-coated  weakness  before  him,  and 
flails  it  into  so  much  chaff  wind-blown,  chilling 
Washington  to  shivers  of  terror  lest  he  pounce 
down  on  us  here.  Look  at  it — the  dome  of  yon 
Capitol  seems  still  to  be  quaking.  Meantime  we 
quit  the  Peninsula,  and  Lee,  released  from  guard, 
trains  his  exultant  legions  Northward,  till  they 
reach  Manassas  where  a  second  time  a  bloody  bat- 
tle is  fought  along  the  same  Fatal  Line — Great 
God,  what  can  it  all  portend? 

Secretary  of  State. 
"Well  do  I  recall  that  hour  a  little  more  than  a 
year  ago,  when  we  took  a  similar  walk  around  the 
city  and  shared  in  the  rush  and  consternation  of 
the  fugitives.  Not  so  disorderly  is  the  flight  now, 
but  bad  enough,  and  possibly  more  dangerous  than 
then.  The  enemy  are  in  better  condition  and  more 
aggressive.  But  the  main  query  is,  Will  the  peo- 
ple rise  again  to  the  support  of  the  government,  as 
they  have  already  done  twice  with  the  most  lavish 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGENCE.  285 

outpour  of  their  money,  of  their  blood,  and  of  their 
faith  in  the  cause?  They  are  on  trial  even  more 
than  we,  their  feeble  instruments. 

The  President. 
"We  shall  see,  for  I  shall  appeal  to  them  again: 
I  believe  they  will  respond,  I  at  least  trust  in  them. 
But  that  ominous  Line,  blood-bespattered  and 
swaying  from  place  to  place  in  many  sinuosities, 
but  never  broken,  still  keeps  winding  through  my 
vision  as  the  very  Satan  shutting  us  out  of  our 
Eden  of  hope.  Seward,  do  you  not  see  it  over 
yonder  in  Virginia,  circling  in  many  a  coil  between 
us  and  the  advancing  foe,  and  lashing  its  wake 
into  ensanguined  foam,  like  the  fabled  sea-ser- 
pent ? 

Secretary  of  State. 

No,  I  have  not  that  gift  of  sight,  I  may  call  it 
second  sight.  Still,  I  do  not  deny  that  the  Fatal 
Line  of  which  you  speak,  begins  to  hover  before 
my  mind  as  a  shadowy  fact.  I  recollect  when  it 
first  seemed  to  slide  into  your  brain  with  no  little 
energy ;  that  was  when  we  had  conversed  with  the 
one  panic-proof  soldier  of  the  first  battle  of  Bull 
Eun,  who  unwittingly  told  you  the  great  secret. 
Yet  it  is  getting  to  be  a  secret  open  to  every  eye 
that  can  take  a  providential  glimpse. 


286    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XYI. 

The  President. 
Very  vivid  darts  that  memory  still.  But  what 
impresses  me  most  now  is  the  recurrence,  yea  the 
repeated  recurrence  of  that  Fatal  Line  here  in 
your  East.  It  seems  to  be  drawn  again  and  again 
by  the  Upper  Powers  to  admonish  us.  I  have  told 
you  how  it  flashed  upon  me,  crimsoned  afresh  with 
many  battles,  at  Harrison's  Landing.  And  now  it 
rises  up  with  strangely  new  emphasis  on  the  very 
same  spot  where  it  first  appeared.  Forward  are 
pressing  victoriously  our  foes;  can  they  be  halted 
at  that  same  limit,  as  they  always  have  been  hith- 
erto?    That  is  now  our  problem. 

Secretary  of  State. 

Evidently  the  new  general  called  from  the  West 
cannot  perform  the  task.  Whose  is  the  fault?  It 
is  difficult  to  say.  At  any  rate  General  Pope  is 
unable  to  re-establish  the  Line,  in  fact  he  has  given 
up  the  job.    Who  can? 

The  President. 

That  is  the  pinching  issue  at  this  moment.  The 
new  head  set  on  the  old  body  of  the  Potomac 
army  cannot  govern  it ;  organism  and  brain- work 
do  not  agree,  but  revolt  against  each  other,  or  at 
least  refuse  hearty  co-operation.  That  method 
will  not  serve,  at  least  not  now.     Seward,  I  must 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGENCE.  287 

put  back  the  old  head  on  the  old  body  ere  it  be 
too  late;  there  is  no  other  way  of  meeting  the 
press  of  the  crisis,  which  closes  us  m  its  vice  just 
now.  M'Clellan  is  the  spirit  which  informs  that 
body  ever^^where,  now  but  a  vast  disorganized  mass 
of  flesh  without  his  controlling  presence.  Say 
what  you  please,  he  alone  has  power  to  direct  its 
members  to  fresh  effort,  after  gathering  it  up  from 
its  awful  sprawl  where  it  lies  all  quashed  out  into 
a  kind  of  human  pulp  outwardly  and  what  is 
worse,  inwardly — ruleless,  headless,  godless  as  if 
smitten  by  Heaven's  thunderbolts.  So  on  that 
beheaded  trunk  I  have  to  clap  the  head  which  I 
lately  snipped  off.  Mac  can  restore  the  machine 
now  broken  or  breaking  at  every  joint.  The  su- 
preme fact  is  that  he  has  the  army's  confidence, 
aye  their  love ;  no  other  man  has  that  or  can  get  it, 
for  it  is  not  a  bauble  to  be  picked  up  anywhere  on 
the  road.  Alas,  I  have  it  not,  and  I  must  take  the 
leader  who  has. 

Secretary  of  State. 

Hazardous  to  the  last  degree,  but  we  are  grind- 
ing in  the  mill  of  the  Gods,  and  it  is  whizzing  at 
top  of  its  speed.  But  if  you  re-appoint  him,  what 
next?  And  if  he  re-shapes  his  shattered  troops, 
will  he  then  fight — or  parade  and  drill,  ever  call- 
ing for  more  and  more?     Dubious,  dubious. 


288    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVI. 

The  President. 

All  that  I  have  anxiously  weighed  for  many 
hours — even  the  whole  night.  I  shall  tell  you  how 
I  figure  the  future  just  crashing  on  us.  Mac  will 
fight  if  attacked,  and  his  army  will  too,  with  vigor 
- — a  quality  which  we  have  not  seen  in  these  recent 
days.  At  present  a  successful  defensive  battle  is 
our  first  desperate  need,  for  Lee  is  crossing  the 
Potomac  into  Maryland,  and  must  be  met  at  once. 
He  on  his  side  is  assailing  the  Fatal  Line — can  he 
break  through  it?  Right  at  that  point  Mac  can 
foil  him,  I  believe ;  so  much  he  showed  at  least  on 
the  Peninsula.  Then  I  feel  like  giving  him  another 
chance.  He  may  have  learned  somewhat  by  his 
adversity — the  best  school. 

Secretary  of  State. 

His  appointment  will  not  be  well  received  by 
your  best  friends.  They  know  too  much  about  his 
treatment  of  you,  his  open  disparagement,  his  in- 
subordination, yea  his  secret  ambition.  Stanton 
will  resign,  I  am  afraid. 

The  President. 

I  dare  say  he  will  not.  Still  what  you  speak  of 
I  know  and  have  keenly  felt.  But  I  must  at  pres- 
ent submerge  my  personal  feelings,  and  even  the 
wrongs  done  me  in  the  past,  and  regard  only  the 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGENCE.  289 

Nation's  emergency,  which  pivots  just  now  upon 
this  decision.  I  am  aware  that  my  whole  Cabinet 
will  disapprove  my  act,  you  possibly  excepted — 
some  thinking  Mae's  re-appointment  worse  than  a 
defeat  or  the  greatest  defeat  of  all.  My  party 
friends  will  be  dismayed;  many  newspapers  will 
asperse  me,  my  opponents  only  approving  with  an 
ironical  sneer.  Still  it  is  the  single  thing  to  be 
done  in  this  sudden  criss-cross  of  fate;  Mac  the 
organizer,  the  defender,  I  must  have  without  a 
day's  delay.  Here  is  the  order  for  his  re-instate- 
ment. 

Secretary  of  State. 

But  what  next?  Our  side  can  never  win  by  a 
mere  defensive  victory.  The  Union  divides  right 
on  the  line  of  defense  and  offense,  it  is  your  Fatal 
Line. 

The  President. 

True  enough;  but  we  shall  first  wait  for  the 
future  to  turn  present.  I  shall  keep  Mac  under 
close  eyesight ;  I  shall  put  a  halter  around  his 
neck  and  keep  hold  of  it  so  that  he  feels  its  twitch. 
At  the  same  time  I  shall  let  him  understand  that  I 
am  still  his  friend,  and  that  I  alone  have  saved  him 
for  another  opportunity  to  redeem  himself,  though 
his  egotism  whisper  of  me:  "he  could  not  help 
himself."     "Well,  that  is  not  so  far  from  truth. 


290    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVI. 

Mae  has  little  power  of  self-criticism,  he  cannot 
say  peccavi,  and  then  from  such  confession  start 
on  a  new  career;  so  I  shall  have  to  say  it  for  him 
and  to  him,  as  I  do  so  often  for  myself.  But  his 
mysterious  greatness  is  the  power  of  rousing  love 
in  such  a  vast  multitude  of  hearts;  I  wonder  at 
this  divine  gift  of  his,  I  would  envy  it  if  I  dared, 
and  appropriate  it  if  I  could.  But  I  must  utilize 
it  for  the  Nation's  sake  right  here,  and  for  his  too, 
I  hope. 

Secretary  of  State. 

Therein  you  are  yourself  again ;  nobody  but  you 
w^ould  appreciate  that  strange  love  of  the  soldiery 
at  your  valuation.  I  have  heard  you  say  something 
of  the  sort  before;  it  has  dominated  your  view  of 
M'Clellan,  and  made  you  cling  to  him  in  spite  of 
his  notorious  short-comings.  You  love  the  army's 
love  of  LI'Clellan  more  than  you  love  the  man  him- 
self; and  now  you  stake  chiefly  upon  that  in  the 
imminent  battle. 

The  President. 

Certainly,  I  deem  that  love  our  present  salva- 
tion. If  it  were  not,  I  fear  we  would  be  lost.  In 
a  few  days  he  will  fuse  the  refractory  and  dispir- 
ited army  with  personal  devotion,  and  mold  it  into 
new  shape  for  its  task.  Yes,  I  believe  in  love,  in 
the  smallest  genuine  particle  of  it,  as  God  is  love. 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGENCE.  291 

the  all-creative  and  all-upholding-  in  man  and  in 
the  world. 

Secretary  of  State. 
And  so  even  in  little  Mae.  Success  to  his  divine 
spark  in  the  forthcoming  trial  of  arms.  But  see 
where  he  comes  on  the  moment.  I  shall  slip  off  and 
leave  you  two  alone,  since  here  is  the  "White-House 
to  which  we  have  wandered  back  from  our  prome- 
nade.    The  Lord  be  with  you  both. 


292    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVI. 


Lincoln  {alone). 

' '  There  was  a  look  of  heartiness  unwonted 

Upon  his  unlit  military  face: 

M'Clellan's  hope  just  lightened  once  his  eyes 

As  he  received  his  fresh  authority, 

Which  I  have  put  into  his  hands  again 

In  disregard  of  my  advisers  here; 

Still  I  obey  the  counsel  of  myself 

Which  whispers  me  its  mandate  ultimate; 

And  then  the  Presence  came  with  its  impression 

Sealing  the  edict  M'hich  I  heard  within, 

With  its  last  proof  unworded  and  unseen. 

I  felt  the  promise  of  its  visitation: 

So  now  the  People  add  their  vast  response 

To  my  new  call  to  them  to  send  me  troops. 

I  know  that  Mac  was  glad  to  be  restored. 

And  5^et  he  said  he  felt  his  neck  was  haltered 

And  I  by  silence  emphasized  the  word 

That  he  cognize  the  rule  above  himself 

Which  he  had  sometimes  held  his  underling. 

Yet  he  is  greater  than  myself  just  now, 

I  would  not  tell  him  though  I  know  it  well, 

He  turns  the  axis  of  our  destiny; 

He  has  the  government  at  his  own  will. 

Mightier  than  he  ever  was  before 

Though  he  commanded  once  the  entire  army; 


THE  SOUTH' S  RESURGENCE.  293 

The  Nation's  lot  is  his  to  make  or  mar 

This  week  it  may  be,  or  this  month  or  more, 

Until  the  outcome  of  the  neariug  battle. 

Somehow  I  do  forefeel  his  victory, 

The  foes  too  have  defied  the  Fatal  Line, 

But  it  is  theirs  in  fact  as  well  as  ours, 

They  cannot  cross  it  any  more  than  we. 

Yea,  'tis  the  South 's  more  deeply  than  the  North's: 

So  I  forecast  repulse  for  their  transgression. 

M'Clellan  too  will  halt  just  there,  I  fear. 

As  he  has  done  before  at  that  dread  Line 

Wliich  seems  engraved  upon  his  very  soul; 

Then  he  will  drop  to  what  he  was,  alas ! 

Powerless  to  advance  one  step  beyond. 

Clutched  by  his  inner  fate  with  demon 's  grip. 

But  hold !  I  run  ahead  of  mine  own  plan : 
If  we  hurl  back  the  legions  of  the  foe 
Till  they  retreat  across  Potomac's  bound, 
So  that  we  win  the  name  of  victory 
E'en  if  it  be  but  a  defensive  one. 
On  mine  own  part  I  too  shall  take  a  step 
Forward  to  what  I  deem  the  epoch's  height. 
I  shall  speak  forth  the  word  Emancipation 
And  so  wipe  out  that  mortal  difference 
Breaching  so  long  the  Slave  States  and  the  Free, 
And  will  the  country  whole  make  free  and  one, 
Through  fiat  of  my  liberating  office. 


294    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XTI. 

Mucli  have  I  meditated  on  the  act, 

And  still  must  balance  me  a  little  while 

Upon  the  edge  of  keen  expectancy 

Till  the  right  news  rounds  out  the  hope  fulfilled." 

Thus  Lincoln  to  himself  reiterated 

The  promise  which  already  he  had  vowed 

To  God  in  his  strong  heart-scourged  supplication, 

Only  astay  to  clinch  the  opportunity 

Which  was  to  shine  in  the  first  victory. 

But  as  he  lapsed  into  his  musing  mood. 

He  felt  the  impress  of  that  upper  sanction 

Which  breathed  him  courage  for  his  greatest  deed. 

To  turn  an  aeon  of  all  History. 

While  on  him  gleamed  that  higher  confirmation, 

He  heard  a  shout  pierce  through  his  revery : 

"Antietam's  battle  has  been  fought  and  won." 


laah  Stb^tttentl^, 


The  Second  Proclamation, 

The  President. 

I  wish  a  full  Cabinet  to-day,  since  the  step  we 
are  taking  will  be  the  axis  of  the  war,  if  not  of  the 
century.  Some  members  are  still  absent,  so  per- 
mit me  to  read  a  passage  from  this  clever  book  of 
humor.     (He  reads,  all  laugh  hut  one.) 

Secretary  of  War. 
I  can  see  nothing  funny  in  that — I  feel  too  much 
burdened  by  my  crushing  duties — and  I  am  har- 
rowed by  the  agonies  of  this  writhing  Nation. 

The  President. 

Just  of  that  I  would  find  for  you  and  me  a  mo- 
ment's respite.  I  know  that  some  people  take  ex- 
ception to  my  safety-valve  of  too  much  emotion. 

(295) 


296  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVII. 

But  such  a  passage  drives  off  my  devil  melancholy, 
who  obscures  my  vision  of  the  future  just  when  I 
wish  to  see  distinctly.  That  sheen  of  playful 
humor  pierces  the  vapors  of  my  brooding  soul  and 
clears  my  intellect  for  an  outlook  upon  what  is 
and  is  to  be.  Of  such  clarification  more  than  ever 
before  I  am  in  need  right  now.  So  it  is  with  us 
all,  I  think. 

Secretary  of  State. 

I  confess  this  medicine  does  me  some  good,  but 
not  so  much.  Still  every  man  has  a  right  to  fight 
his  own  demons  after  his  own  fashion,  even  if  cer- 
tain classic  reporters  will  say  of  your  humor  again 
as  they  have  already  said:  Behold  Nero  fiddling 
while  Eome  is  burning. 

The  President. 
Well,  it  is  my  way  of  putting  to  flight  the  Dragon 
when  he  eclipses  the  sun  and  cuts  off  the  light  for 
my  vision  of  the  Higher  Powers.     But  enough  of 
this  matter;  I  see  that  we  are  all  arrived. 

Secretary  of  State. 
No  one  missing  for  the  supreme  assault. 

The  President. 

This  is  the  third  time  I  have  conferred  with  you 
on  the  subject  of  my  Proclamation  for  Emancipa- 
tion.   We  laid  it  aside,  in  accord  with  the  wise  sug- 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  297 

gestion  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  that  we  should 
wait  till  we  could  re-inforee  it  by  a  victory.  That 
victory  has  just  been  won  at  Antietam,  the  enemy 
have  been  driven  out  of  Maryland,  and  have  fallen 
back  behind  their  old  lines.  I  wish  their  defeat 
could  have  been  more  decisive.  But  doubtless  just 
that  incompleteness  is  a  sign  that  we  must  take  a 
new  departure.  I  kept  my  own  counsel,  but  I 
made  a  vow  to  my  God  that  I  would  strike  the  first 
blow  for  an  emanicipated  Union,  when  the  foe  had 
retreated.  You  know  what  the  instrument  is  al- 
ready ;  I  do  not  call  you  together  for  advice  on  the 
main  matter,  I  am  resolved.  But  suggestions  about 
expression  or  minor  points  I  would  gladly  have. 
You  are  aware  that  I  have  been  waiting  a  good 
while  for  this  pivotal  moment,  which  turns  now 
upon  me,  and  I  must  act  for  all  time.  So  I  decree 
the  freedom  of  the  Slaves  by  fiat  of  executive  au- 
thority as  a  war  measure  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
It  almost  takes  my  breath  away.  I  have  been 
known,  I  might  say  branded,  as  the  abolitionist  of 
the  Cabinet ;  I  wished  to  strike  at  slavery  from  the 
start  as  the  core  of  our  disease;  I  supported  Fre- 
mont and  Hunter  in  their  military  pronouncements 
of  Emancipation ;  but  this  far  outstrips  anything 
I  had  conceived  in  my  most  unruly  dream. 


298  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVII. 

The  President. 
Something  has  to  be  done  and  that  quickly;  we 
are  at  the  parting  of  the  ways,  and  we  must  strike 
into  the  new  road;  the  old  plan  of  restoring  the 
Union  simply  as  it  was,  has  been  threshed  out  to 
its  last  rag  and  must  be  transcended — unfolded 
into  a  Union  preserved  indeed,  but  enfranchised. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

On  the  whole  my  choice  would  be  to  let  this  work 
be  done  by  the  military  commanders,  each  in  his 
own  department  and  somewhat  in  his  own  way, 
according  to  the  emergency.  The  present  method 
seems  too  sudden,  too  overwhelming,  perhaps  too 
indiscriminate;  then  I  would  not  except  the  frac- 
tions of  States  mentioned  in  the  document  which 
still  leave  so  many  plague-spots  behind  and  be- 
tween. I  believe  in  the  thing  but  I  question  the 
method.  It  is  a  military  act;  let  the  soldier  do  it, 
not  the  civil  power. 

The  President. 

I  may  be  permitted  to  remind  you  that  the  Pres- 
ident is  also  a  soldier  in  this  war,  indeed  the  chief 
one  constitutionally.  I  see  that  you  still  approve 
your  approval  of  Fremont  and  Hunter.  That  is 
certainly  consistent. 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  299 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
Such  would  be  my  way  at  any  rate,  if  I  were 
dealing  with  this  crisis,  and  I  hold  it  to  be  the 
only  right  way. 

The  President. 
Let  me  make  just  here  a  frank  confession  to  you 
all,  I  believe  that  there  are  others  who  might 
perform  this  supreme  act  better  than  myself.  If 
I  could  find  such  a  man  and  knew  of  any  lawful 
way  to  put  him  in  my  place,  I  would  turn  it  over 
to  him  gladly.  But  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any 
such  person,  and  if  I  had,  I  could  not  transfer  to 
him  my  office  with  its  sworn  responsibility.  I  have 
reflected  on  this  matter  long  and  intently,  at  times 
despairingly.  Often  the  voice  comes  to  me  from 
without  and  from  within :  you  are  not  the  man. 
But  here  I  am,  and  I  shall  have  to  stick,  doing  the 
best  I  know  how. 

Secretary  of  State. 
Harbor  no  such  thoughts,  Mr.  President ;  if  you 
could  get  out,  M'e  would  have  to  put  you  back — 
just  you.  Before  these  gentlemen,  let  me  distinctly 
affirm  my  mature  conviction :  you  are  the  best  of 
us  all.  I  shall  go  further  and  state  what  I  believe 
future  generations  will  acclaim:  of  the  many  mil- 
lions of  us  you  are  the  only  one — 


SOO  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVII. 

The  President. 
Enough  of  that,  my  dear  friend ;  your  apprecia- 
tion does  me  good,  even  if  I  am  not  now  seeking 
an  office  but  rather  the  opposite.  However  I  shall 
seize  this  opportunity  to  enforce  another  fixed  pur- 
pose of  mine.  It  is  this :  the  supreme  act  of  liber- 
ation must  come  through  the  highest  civil  func- 
tionary, not  through  a  subordinate  military  of- 
ficer. It  should  be  the  crowning  deed  of  political 
authority,  subsuming  under  itself  all  the  powers 
of  war.  I  hold  myself  very  watchful  upon  this 
point,  perhaps  sensitive.  The  State  cannot  af- 
ford to  let  a  soldier,  even  the  greatest,  perform  the 
highest  work  of  the  government  which  he  is  to  obey. 
Already  I  have  told  you  that  I  cannot  resign  my 
Presidential  function  to  another,  be  he  civilian  or 
soldier.  Already  they  prophesy  abroad  and  even 
here  at  home  the  rise  of  the  military  despotism,  the 
overthrow  of  the  rule  of  laws  by  the  rule  of  arms, 
whose  beginning  might  be  a  general's  manifesto  of 
freedom,  which  therefore  hangs  on  his  arbitrary 
will.  Such  a  manifesto  cannot  be  permitted — at 
least  not  till  a  dictator  has  stepped  into  my  shoes 
and  is  wielding  my  pen  at  the  White-House. 

Attorney  General. 

The  true  doctrine  legally  as  well  as  patriotically. 
We  all  are  aware  how  rife  has  been  the  talk  of  a 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  301 

dictatorship  in  the  army,  especially  here  in  the 
East,  and  we  have  felt  the  dangerous  spirit  which 
keeps  spreading  such  reports,  as  if  they  were 
nursed  alive  from  headquarters. 

The  President. 

I  suppose  you  know  the  example  which  I  have 
made  of  such  a  spirit  among  the  army  officers,  who 
would  allow  their  troops  to  be  defeated  for  political 
reasons  of  their  own.  If  I  have  one  fixed  resolu- 
tion it  is  this :  our  government  in  its  present  strug- 
gle shall  not  pass  through  the  iron  grip  of  a 
Caesar,  a  Cromwell,  a  Napoleon,  or  any  autocrat 
begotten  of  civil  war,  such  as  we  have  seen  spring 
up  repeatedly  in  Europe.  Just  that  fact  I  am  go- 
ing to  stamp  upon  history  as  one  great  difference 
between  the  old  world  and  the  new.  As  an  instru- 
ment of  force,  the  army  is  of  European  birth  and 
organization,  and  in  the  land  of  its  origin  it  has 
often  seized  the  State  as  its  own;  we  on  our  side 
have  been  compelled  to  invoke  that  same  monstrous 
giant  of  force,  but  we  intend  to  keep  him  in  his 
place.  Such  was  the  deepest  reason,  though  not 
the  only  one,  for  recalling  the  proclamations  of 
Fremont  and  Hunter — generals  playing  the  mil- 
itary autocrat  and  usurping  supreme  political 
functions.  And  I  have  had  to  warn  several  other 
military  gentlemen  with  political  aspirations  not 


302  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVII. 

to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind.  Hitherto  the 
task  has  not  been  hard,  as  all  these  generals  have 
failed  to  win  any  decisive  success  in  the  field, 
without  which  no  great  usurpation  is  possible.  In- 
deed my  prayer  has  rather  been  that  some  of  them 
or  even  one  of  them  would  gain  such  an  over- 
whelming victory  that  there  might  be  some  peril 
of  his  becoming  dictator.  Such  a  dangerous  gen- 
eral I  have  actually  been  hunting  for  in  our  army 
here  along  the  Potomac.  But  I  cannot  beat  up  such 
big  game. 

No !  As  the  head  of  the  civil  and  military  de- 
partments of  this  Nation  under  the  Law,  I  alone 
am  the  one  empowered  to  issue  this  Proclamation, 
the  supreme  National  act  of  the  present  war. 
Moreover  it  is  mine  constitutionally  to  meet  in 
advance  any  turn  toward  dictatorship,  be  it  mil- 
itary or  civil — a  man  in  blue  or  black. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  wish  to  say  that  I  am  in  favor  of  Emancipa- 
tion as  a  principle,  and  I  have  always  been  in  favor 
of  it;  I  sought  to  bring  it  about  in  Missouri,  when 
I  resided  in  that  State.  Still  I  question  its  ex- 
pediency just  now;  it  will  alienate  the  Union  ele- 
ment in  the  border  Slave-States  already  sorely 
tried,  and  if  they  turn  to  secession,  the  scale  now 
balancing  will  almost  surely  tip  against  us,  I  fear. 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  303 

Then  it  will  lose  us  the  coming  fall  elections  in 
many  of  the  Free-States — several  governors,  and 
possibly  the  National  House  of  Representatives. 

The  President. 

Those  are  certainly  points  to  be  considered,  and 
I  assure  you  that  I  have  considered  them  long  and 
anxiously.  Loss  there  will  be,  but  the  greater  gain. 
Moreover  those  border  Slave-States  will  not  now 
go  over  to  rebellion  for  the  sake  of  slavery;  they 
might  have  done  so  a  year  ago — I  believe  they 
would,  hence  my  very  tender  treatment  of  them  at 
the  start.  They  have  a  hard  problem  and  peculiar 
to  themselves,  which  may  be  stated  thus:  Choose 
ye  between  preservation  of  the  Union  and  loss  of 
slavery,  or  loss  of  the  Union  and  preservation  of 
slavery.  I  have  hitherto  tried  to  preserve  both, 
but  it  cannot  be  done,  and  I  have  given  them  warn- 
ing that  I  would  lay  a  strong  hand  on  slavery,  if 
necessary.  I  believe  that  they  have  made  their 
choice.  Besides,  with  arms  in  the  hand,  and  once 
in  the  fight,  they  will  not  throw  away  their  means 
of  defence.  In  the  recent  invasion  the  Maryland- 
ers  did  not  flock  to  the  Confederates  who  expected 
them  in  large  numbers ;  the  same  report  comes  from 
Kentucky  which  did  not  receive  Bragg 's  liberation 
from  the  Northern  tyrant  very  enthusiastically.  I 
have  counted  the  cost;  the  opposition  will  abuse 


304  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  H0V8E—B00K  XVII. 

US  anyhow,  and  probably  make  some  gains.  That 
would  have  happened  without  the  Proclamation, 
on  account  of  our  recent  reverses. 

Postmaster  General. 
I  wish  to  re-iterate  that  I  believe  in  this  meas- 
ure; my  doubt  is  about  the  present  time  as  aus- 
picious for  such  a  far-reaching  departure ;  I  would 
hold  back  for  a  better  moment. 

The  President. 
Aside  from  expediency  there  has  risen  and  is 
pressing  the  question  of  eternal  right,  which  is  now, 
in  my  view,  enforced  by  the  Supernal  Powers.  I 
repeat  that  I  have  taken  oath  that  if  the  Divine 
Will  manifested  itself  in  the  approaching  conflict 
by  a  victorj^  I  would  regard  it  not  only  as  a  sign 
but  as  a  command  to  move  forward  to  the  next 
great  station  of  our  cause,  that  of  Emancipation. 
For  me  at  least  this  act  has  been  determined  by  an 
influence  greater  than  I  am,  and  now  I  prepare  to 
fulfil  my  pledge.  So  I  have  called  you  together 
not  to  decide  this  matter,  for  it  has  been  decreed 
by  a  Power  higher  than  we  are,  but  to  help  me  im- 
prove its  effectiveness  in  one  way  or  another.  I 
would  have  it  as  perfect  as  possible  in  utterance. 

Attorney  General. 
I  give  my  heartiest  assent  to  this  new  action  of 
yours,  Mr.  President,  I  deem  it  just,  necessary  and 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  305 

also  timely,  though  I  come  from  a  border  Slave- 
State  and  represent  the  same  in  this  Cabinet.  As 
I  have  to  be  a  man  of  exact  speech,  I  would  like  to 
hear  you  read  the  wording  of  it  again,  to  try  if  I 
may  catch  up  any  legal  flaws. 

The  President. 

You  have  all  had  copies  of  the  Proclamation  and 
doubtless  have  pondered  deeply  its  words  and 
their  meaning.  Let  me  read,  however,  the  pivotal 
sentences  of  the  instrument: 

"Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested 
in  me  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States,  in  time  of  actual  armed 
rebellion  against  the  government  and  authority  of 
the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war 
measure  for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do  order 
and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within 
said  rebellious  States  and  parts  of  States  are,  and 
henceforward  shall  be  free." 

Secretary  of  State. 

I  would  like  to  interject  a  word  just  there.  This 
Presidential  edict  ends  slavery  not  only  in  the 
United  States,  but  in  all  America,  and  finally  in 
the  world.  The  backward  peoples  will  no  longer 
be  enslaved  by  the  more  civilized  man,  even  if  they 
have  to  be  put  under  his  training.    "With  such  an 


306  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVII. 

utterance  of  freedom,  civilization  turns  a  new  cor- 
ner, and  strikes  into  a  fresh  road.  The  "World's 
History  will  hereafter  call  this  one  of  her  chief 
nodes. 

The  President. 

After  that  I  suppose  you  may  not  want  to  hear 
the  rest. 

Secretary  of  State. 

I  wish  to  add  that  I  advise  the  immediate  is- 
suance of  this  Proclamation.  You  know  I  favored 
waiting  till  we  were  backed  up  by  a  victory,  which 
has  been  won.  So  the  edict  is  not  now  the  last  de- 
spairing shriek  of  a  beaten  cause,  but  the  first 
triumphant  shout  of  the  new  emancipated  Union, 
Besides  I  may  confess  to  you  here  that  in  giving 
that  advice  for  delay  I  had  another  thought  in 
mind  of  which  I  did  not  then  speak.  I  had  to  con- 
sider M'Clellan  as  hostile  to  such  a  Proclamation, 
but  in  command  of  the  army  which  was  then  on  the 
march  against  the  foe  to  win  the  battle.  Never 
before  or  since  has  he  been  in  such  a  supreme  po- 
sition; he  held  in  his  hand  the  key  to  the  future 
and  could  turn  it  either  way.  With  his  tendency 
to  take  in  hand  political  matters,  he  might  have 
concluded  that  the  moment  for  dictatorship  had 
come,  using  for  pretext  just  this  edict  as  uncon- 
stitutional and  revolutionary.  But  when  the  vic- 
tory was  gained  and  the  enemy  fleeing  across  the 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  307 

Potomac,  his  political  opportunity  was  gone,  and 
lie  suddenly  sank  again  to  his  military  subordina- 
tion. But  for  some  days,  while  he  was  the  very 
keystone  of  the  arch,  I  shivered  as  much  in  fear  of 
him  as  of  the  rebels. 

Secretary  of  War. 

He  ought  never  to  have  been  re-appointed — I 
deemed  that  to  be  a  calamity  as  great  as  a  defeat — 
aye,  already  a  defeat. 

The  President. 
The  risk  was  not  small,  but  it  had  to  be  taken. 
The  result  on  the  whole  has  justified  the  ac.  The 
Capital  is  safe,  the  North  is  free  of  invasion,  the 
grand  Confederate  resurgence  is  broken,  and  its 
waves  have  dropped  back  to  their  old  level.  And 
we  can  begin  our  task  afresh  with  new  hope. 

Secretary  of  State. 

I  have  come  to  agree  with  you,  Mr.  President, 
that  there  was  nothing  else  then  to  be  done.  But 
the  crisis  is  now  happily  past,  the  military  dicta- 
torship, if  not  dead,  is  no  longer  so  aggressive. 
And  here  I  would  like  to  open  my  heart  to  you  all 
in  confidence :  I  feel  that  another  sort  of  dictator- 
ship is  brewing,  which  has  also  to  be  met.  Con- 
gress must  not  usurp  authority  outside  of  its 
sphere,  nor  any  committee  of  it  dictate  Presidential 
functions.     Peace  may  turn  autocrat  as  well  as 


SOS  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XVII. 

war;  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  government  may  try 
to  be  the  whole ;  a  civil  dictatorship  seems  to  be  as 
tempting  as  a  military;  the  legislative  can  seek  to 
be  the  executive,  as  well  as  the  reverse.  I  know  it, 
for  I  have  been  a  Senator  myself. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
Pooh,  pooh!  no  danger  in  that  direction.  Pure 
fancies  are  such  suspicions  against  our  Senatorial 
fellow-workers  in  the  great  task  of  the  Nation — 
products  of  diseased  imagination,  or  possibly  of 
terrified  conscience. 

The  President. 

Enough  on  that  point  at  present.  We  shall, 
however,  keep  an  eye  on  both  sorts  of  dictator- 
ships, not  omitting  to  guard  against  our  own  dic- 
tatorship, with  which  we  have  often  been  charged, 
and  shall  now  be  again.  Deeper  and  far  more 
sacred  than  any  personal  struggle  for  power  is 
this  work  for  the  Emancipated  Nation,  upon 
which  we  have  entered,  and  from  which  there  must 
be  no  retreat.  We  shall  next  see  whether  we  can- 
not break  through  Virginia's  Fatal  Line  of  blood 
with  help  of  the  Higher  Powers. 

Secretary  of  State. 
I   dare  prophesy  that  this  turn  to  Union  en- 
franchised as  well  as  preserved  begins  a  new  cycle 
of  the  ages. 


THE  SECOND  PROCLAMATION.  309 

Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
I  feel  as  if  we  might  conclude  this  greatest  ses- 
sion of  our  service  by  singing  the  Doxology,  the 
favorite  Puritan  hymn. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

(Apart.)  What  a  chaos!  Yet  typical  of  all 
that  is  now  done  here!  Starting  with  Artemus 
Ward  and  ending  with  Gloria  in  excelsis!  Oh  for 
a  guiding  statesman  in  this  welter! 

The  President. 
Now  to  the  loftier  issue.    Be  adjourned. 


100k  ^igl^tetitt]^. 


Mother  Virginia  Again. 

The  Cabinet  of  mortals  vanishing 

Sped  forth  the  White-House,  each  unto  his  stint, 

Yet    downward    curved    beneath    the    weight    of 

thought. 
And  shrinking  to  a  startle  in  his  look 
As  if  he  heard  the  tocsin  of  a  planet  born, 
A  younger  earth  flung  from  the  fathering  sun, 
And  hurtling  its  new  path  amid  the  spheres. 
Lincoln  had  stalked  off  to  his  lolling  rest. 
And  laid  out  at  their  ease  his  chorded  nerves 
Till  every  joint  lopped  lax  with  flaccid  flesh, 
Untensed  from  the  fierce  strain  of  his  resolve. 
And  left  his  members  piecemeal  strewn  astreteh. 
So  gave  he  up  his  centred  organism 

(310) 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  31 1 

Submissive  whole  to  gravitation's  will, 

That  he  become  one  with  all  Energy, 

And  share  in  the  high  Genius  cosmical, 

Tapping  the  flow  of  the  creation's  seed 

Which  trickles  through  the  brain  of  him  who  thinks, 

And  wins  immortal  voice  from  mortal  tongue. 

Thus  he  reposed  in  revery  wide-eyed 

That  opes  the  portals  of  the  overworld, 

And  lets  it  fill  our  human  consciousness 

Which  then  can  hear  and  see  with  organs  new 

And  integrated  somehow  with  the  All, 

Not  limited  to  what  is  here  and  now 

But  sensing  true  the  Time's  transcendences. 

Fain  would  he  catch  the  echo  of  the  Folk 

Eesponding  to  his  voice  of  new  enfranchisement. 

Thus  had  he  watched  awhile  in  waking  dream 
Processions  of  the  souls  of  men  and  things, 
Which  flit  about  in  vision's  vestibule 
Or  loiter  with  a  look  from  out  the  cloud, 
When  suddenly  slid  standing  there  a  shape 
Before  him  which  he  recognized  at  once, 
For  he  had  seen  and  talked  with  it  ere  this, 
His  form  he  raised  up  to  salute  the  ghost 
With  mien  of  a  becoming  dignity: 
"Welcome — I  know  thee  now,  Virginia, 
Thy  visit  I  remember  of  last  year ; 
Since  then  has  rolled  a  mighty  revolution 


Sl^  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XYIII. 

Of  Time 's  huge  wheel  which  still  keeps  whirring  off 

Events  like  fragments  of  a  new-made  world, 

Whereof  to  glimpse  the  grand  artificer 

I  seek,  that  he  may  help  me  train  this  chaos. 

Whose  strifeful  elements  'tis  mine  to  order." 

The  specter  threw  defiance  from  her  eyes, 

Though  not  so  domineering  lipped  her  tones 

As  when  before  she  issued  her  command 

Unto  the  President  as  her  own  vassal : 

"Again  I  come  advising  for  your  good, 

And  for  the  common  human  heart  still  tender, 

I  hope,  in  spite  of  all  its  bleeding  streams 

Which  each  of  us  has  made  to  gush  in  hate 

Out  of  the  other's  veins  in  battle  tapped. 

But  let  me  say  the  scope  of  this  fresh  visit, 

And  pipe  at  once  to  you  my  ghostly  voice. 

Revoke,  I  bid,  this  Proclamation  new 

Which  frees  our  slaves  by  arbitrary  will. 

And  gives  our  hearths  to  servile  savagery, 

Lest  we  be  forced  to  hoist  in  self-defence 

The  mortal  flag  of  black  impending  death 

To  every  wretched  captive  bloused  in  blue 

Who  may  be  taken  of  your  soldiery. ' ' 

Lincoln  responded  unalarmed  in  mien: 
' '  0  No !  so  far  your  scath  would  not  hold  out. 
Although  your  Senate  may  in  heat  propose  it. 
Besides  you  soon  will  dare  bethink  yourself : 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  313 

Retaliation  is  a  two-edged  sword 

Gashing  the  user  just  in  using  it. 

I  would  not  kill  for  what  another  did, 

And  you  will  not,  I  deem,  when  you  cool  off. 

But  weigh  !  from  Union  now  emancipated 

Think  not  I  shall  go  back  to  it  enslaved." 

To  Lincoln's  words  rolled  a  reverberation 

As  of  commingled  strains  not  in  agreement, 

Applause  and  hisses  at  his  hardiment. 

Virginia  still  looked  forth  her  mettle  proud. 

And  told  in  fiercer  tones  her  fresh  demand 

Sharpening  her  speech's  point  with  finger  tipped: 

"Revoke  the  clause  which  lets  our  slave  be  soldier 

Fighting  his  master  on  equality. 

To  win  his  freedom  by  his  arms  in  hand. 

My  cavaliers  enranked  against  my  blacks — 

The  thought  humiliates  more  than  defeat. ' ' 

Then  Lincoln  crossed  his  furrowed  sombre  face 

With  smiles  agleam  which  lit  his  kindly  words : 

"You  will  be  thinking  soon  that  selfsame  thing, 

Embattling  servitude  with  lordliness 

In  line  together,  and  also  proffering 

The  boon  of  freedom  to  the  blackest  skin 

As  prize  of  service  in  your  sinking  cause. 

I  only  have  anticipated  you, 

And  seized  the  future's  forelock  in  the  date; 


314!  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XYIII. 

Still  you  will  strive  to  overtake  my  act, 

Your  war-hope  trends  that  way — do  you  not  see  it  ? " 

Reflective  turned  Virginia's  spectral  face 

As  if  confessing  in  her  utterance: 

"I  know  some  of  my  soldiers  harboring 

Such  thoughts  of  policy,  but  I  do  not, 

E'en  if  the  cannon-ball  cleave  me  in  twain. 

And  leave  my  body  gobbeted  forever." 

Thus  as  she  spoke  her  very  face  looked  rifted 

With  line  of  separation  through  her  form 

As  if  a  double  specter  she  might  turn, 

Whence  came,  however,  but  a  single  voice: 

"Division  of  me  in  two  States  complete 

I  know  for  my  undoing  you  have  planned, 

In  violation  of  the  sacred  pact 

As  worded  by  the  Constitution. 

From  that  desist — I  warn  you  solemnly — 

Although  you  split  me  into  warring  halves 

And  dog  each  on  to  lap  the  other's  blood, 

Till  both  expire — I  shall  not  be  co-ereed." 

Condolence  wrote  its  lines  in  Lincoln's  look. 

As  he  replied  her  deed's  own  consequence: 

* '  That  is  what  j^ou  have  done  yourself — just  that — 

Unto  yourself  by  your  secession, 

So  that  it  turns  upon  you  inwardly; 

I  never  could  have  wrought  that  by  myself. 

Nor  could  the  power  of  the  government. 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  315 

Dual  has  been  Virginia  long  in  soul, 

But  thus  in  body  she  is  realized 

Through  her  own  act  of  scission,  not  through  me, 

"Who  long  have  prayed  her  not  to  turn  her  knife 

Upon  herself,  and  tried  to  stay  her  hand. 

Yea,  even  in  your  ghostly  self  I  seem 

To  see  partition  run  quite  through  your  form 

"Whose  doubleness  doth  grapple  with  itself, 

The  one  side  reddens  with  a  victory 

The  other  deathly  pales  to  a  defeat — 

The  haricari  of  Virginia." 

The  sworded  vision  of  the  President 
With  words  which  cut  forthright  down  to  the  core 
Where  lay  the  fester  of  her  deep  disease, 
Enforced  the  spectre  to  a  writheing  shout 
Which  voiced  itself  high  in  a  counter  speech 
Whereby  she  imaged  too  her  spectacle. 
With  her  forefinger  pointed  at  the  picture: 
"Do  you  not  see  yon  quivering  line  of  blood 
Channeled  between  the  North  and  South  a  chasm 
Unpassed  by  you,  impassable  forever 
The  boundary  laid  down  by  Fate  itself 
In  many  a  battle  of  antagonists? 
Whenever  you  have  crossed  that  red-lit  line 
Whatever  force,  though  vast  and  valorous 
You  may  have  hurled  against  me  on  my  soil 
Striking  in  vengeance  at  my  Capital, 


S16 LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XYIII. 

You  have  been  smitten  to  disgraceful  flight 
By  deeds  of  our  courageous  soldiery, 
Then  further  driven  backward  in  retreat 
By  unseen  Powers    scourging  sinful  trespass, 
Till  you  have  quickly  crept  to  safety  pale 
Again  behind  your  guard  of  battlements, 
As  racing  in  God's  panic  from  old  Death." 

Whereat  once  more  she  indexed  what  she  meant. 
And  Lincoln  for  the  moment  ducked  his  head 
Before  that  spectral  finger  pointing  Fate 
Straight  in  his  face  and  voicing  its  dire  rune, 
For  he  had  watched  that  self -same  crimson  flood 
Eise  on  his  sight  with  its  forbidding  chasm 
Both  after  the  defeat  and  victory. 
In  his  dumb  interval  the  ghost  resumed 
Observing  well  the  power  of  her  image : 
"Be  witness  in  that  dread  ensanguined  line 
Of  a  wroth  God's  decree  repeated  oft; 
Forbear  the  new  attempt  to  pass  that  bound,- 
Acknowledge  your  transgression  hitherto, 
And  recognize  the  separated  Nation." 
Whereat  from  out  the  Southern  skies  afar 
Rolled  broken  detonations  of  reply 
Which  muttered  yes  and  no  among  themselves. 
But  from  the  thought  so  worded  came  a  shock 
Which  thrilled  to  speech  the  silenced  President 
Who  felt  a  cut  down  to  his  keenest  nerve : 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  317 

"Never!  Impossible!  not  till  my  corpse 
Itself  be  cast  the  final  sacrifice 
Into  that  gulf  vvhich  cleaves  the  Union ! ' ' 
The  phantom  still  kept  knelling  him  her  words 
"Which  rang  a  toll  sepulchral  to  the  ear 
Of  Lincoln  as  he  shuddered  at  her  gaze : 
"Seek  not  to  thwart  the  one  behest  divine 
"Writ  in  the  blood  of  many  thousands  slain; 
Upon  Manassas  at  the  very  start 
How  could  you  help  but  read  it  plainly  there? 
And  the  Peninsula  re-shouts  the  lesson 
"Which  tells  you  how  you  can  not  cross  the  Line — 
The  Fatal  Line  drawn  round  to  guard  my  Rich- 
mond. 
And  now  again  that  sanguinary  bound 
Has  been  laid  down  with  mightier  emphasis 
Upon  the  soil  gore-thirsty  of  Manassas, 
"Where  lies  your  Union  bleeding  mortally. 
"What  means  this  repetition  of  the  blow — 
That  sign  re-iterated  from  above? 
Stay  with  yourselves  in  holy  name  of  peace 
And  leave  us  to  ourselves  in  our  own  way. 
Know  that  the  earthly  ruler  cloeth  best 
"When  he  confirms  the  mandate  from  on  high, 
Obeying  not  his  own,  but  Heaven's  mind." 

Lincoln  looked  inward  with  his  seeing  soul, 
And  still  was  mute  at  what  he  spied  in  there ; 


SIS  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVIII. 

For  he  beheld  the  same  the  spectre  spoke, 

And  sought  to  find  the  meaning  of  the  portent, 

"When  that  shrill  voice  commanded  him  afresh : 

"Dash  not  against  the  limit  God-decreed 

In  stubborn  wrath  of  mortal  insolence. 

Lest  the  next  time  thou  be  not  spared  of  Heaven, 

And  thy  fixed  punishment  defeat  and  death 

For  wanton  lawlessness  to  God  and  man, 

"With  subjugation  of  thy  blinded  folk 

Told  in  the  ruins  of  yon  Capitol." 

Lincoln  let  fall  his  chin  upon  his  breast 

And  breathed  a  deep-heard  sigh  of  confirmation 

Which  hardened  soon  to  words  responding  thus: 

"Oh  yes,  I  have  oft  recognized  that  Line 

Within  the  last  twelve  months  calamitous; 

I  shall  confess  the  grisly  fatal  image 

Which  has  been  gashed  upon  my  piteous  brain 

Until  the  stream  seems  running  my  own  blood 

As  it  spouts  up  and  down  and  round  about, 

Yet  always  staj^ed  betv^een  the  Capitols, 

In  curves  from  the  Potomac  to  the  James. 

But  you  on  your  side  also  must  have  seen 

That  self-same  image  in  its  counterpart; 

For  you,  whenever  you  have  hit  that  Line 

Have  too  been  halted  and  hurled  back  defeated 

And  have  re-crossed  the  gory  boundary. 

To  tread  again  secure  your  old  domain. 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  Sig 

You  cannot  pass  it  though  we  grant  you  brave, 

That  limit  holds  you  in  as  well  as  us, 

Antietam  is  not  one  week  old  as  yet: 

Do  you  not  know  what  happened  to  you  there?" 

Virginia  hesitated  not  in  speech 

She  sprang  as  for  a  testful  opportunity, 

Her  face  gleamed  e'en  a  smile  victorious, 

As  she  tacked  on  to  what  the  speaker  said : 

"You  have  now  given  proof  for  my  demand, 

Supporting  it  with  your  own  argument, 

Which  shows  the  line  between  us  drawn  eternal — 

Divided  by  a  power  greater  than  ourselves, 

Which  we  must  fight  if  we  dare  quit  our  own, 

And  storm  in  war  the  battlements  of  Heaven. 

Thus  either  of  us  doth  provoke  God's  wrath 

By  violating  what  He  has  decreed — 

The  separation  of  us  in  two  Peoples. ' ' 

The  spectre  noting  Lincoln  sunk  in  thought. 
Deemed  him  unworded  by  her  battery 
Of  shotted  arguments,  perchance  unwilled, 
So  she  still  spoke  with  mien  victorious: 
"The  Upper  Powers  have  confirmed  secession; 
Do  you  not  mark  how  they  will  not  permit 
That  either  side  subdue  by  arms  the  other, 
But  hold  us  balanced  still  in  gain  and  loss  ? 
That  Line,  the  seen  unseen,  which  separates 
Is  guarded  by  angelic  sentinels 


S20 LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XVIII. 

Who  have  thrust  back  from  their  impartial  watch 

The  strong  transgressor,  be  he  you  or  we. 

Obey  the  plain  decree  celestial 

Printed  on  many  a  bloody  battle-field 

And  stop  this  godless  enterprise  of  war 

"Which  but  repeats  the  discipline  of  death. 

How  plain  is  the  hand- writing  on  the  wall, 

Needing  no  prophet  to  unriddle  it ! 

Or  let  me  play  old  Daniel  warning  thee, 

That  God  Himself  is  a  secessionist." 

Whereat  she  stretched  her  spirit-finger  out 

As  if  she  pointed  at  Belshazzar's  doom. 

And  traced  it  on  the  gloomed  Wliite-House  wail. 

At  once  tall  Lincoln  rose  up  to  his  height, 
Straightly  himself  he  statured  from  his  stoop. 
And  pitched  his  words  forthright,  as  he  uncrooked : 
"If  ever  the  high  Powers  ordered  me 
To  do  a  deed  as  their  vicegerent  human 
And  sealed  it  with  their  own  impress  divine,  ■ 
They  bade  me  issue  this  new  Proclamation, 
Driving  my  pen,  though  mine  the  mortal  hand, 
Dictating  in  me  e'en  the  flow  of  words 
Which  spell  the  Union's  new  enfranchisement. 
That  was  the  call  which  I  cannot  recall, 
It  was  the  spirit  of  my  people  too, 
Now  ready  for  this  act  of  liberation. 
It  was  the  voice  of  Time  in  History 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  321 

Unfolding  Nations  on  the  way  to  freedom, 
And  this  the  farthest  flight  recorded  yet. 
A  Union  new  we  shall  be  fighting  for 
Henceforth  with  courage  and  with  hope  renewed, 
"We  shall  by  arms  soon  breach  the  Fatal  Line 
AVhicli  hitherto  has  barriered  us  so  long, 
For  we  refused  to  do  the  Will  above, 
Which  sent  defeat  to  be  our  discipline. 
But  now  by  Heaven's  ministers  o'erwatched 
We  shall  march  forth  to  future  victory, 
E  'en  on  the  soil  of  States  the  lordliest, 
Be  it  mother  of  us  all,  Virginia." 

Whereat  again  reverberant  the  welkin 

Began  to  murmur  thunder  o'er  the  land 

From  sea  to  sea  and  aye  from  age  to  agQ, 

For  strange  it  fell  the  farther  off  the  echo 

The  more  it  swelled  with  roll  of  rising  years. 

Once  more  the  dreamy  spectre  woke  to  words 

And  syllabled  its  side  with  energy : 

"You  cannot  pass  the  bound  which  God  has  drawn, 

Without  repulse  more  bloody  than  before — 

The  added  penalty  of  insolence 

Toward  the  decree  supernally  laid  down. 

Heaven  cannot  be  stormed  from  Washington, 

Our  gunnery  is  voiced  of  Providence." 

That  view  the  President  had  well  bethought, 

His  answer  flew  from  off  his  tongue  at  once : 


SQQ, LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVIII. 

''Not  in  such  waj^  I  read  the  Powers  now 

Who  rained  upon  us  their  calamities; 

That  is  their  mode  of  upper  discipline : 

When  e  'en  their  people  haulk  to  do  their  Will, 

They  scourge  their  own  up  to  the  highest  task 

Until  the  right  be  done — eternal  right — 

Which  now  I  feel  I  voice  in  this  emancipation. 

Well  do  I  know  the  deed  is  fruit  of  war, 

The  fiat  of  my  military  might, 

Which  yet  must  be  transfigured  into  law — 

The  law  organic  governing  our  land. ' ' 

In  placid  mien  the  spectre  gave  a  twinkle 

And  lipped  a  whispered  word  replying  thus: 

' '  Have  you  not  heard  that  Lee  has  crossed  the  river 

Back  to  his  State  and  there  re-drawn  the  line 

Which  parts  and  ever  will,  the  North  and  South  ? ' ' 

Whereto  the  President  gleamed  his  response, 
With  ripples  through  his  furrowed  wizen  face: 
"Have  you  not  heard  how  that  dividing  line-^- 
Here  the  dead-line  of  our  fatalities — 
Has  in  the  West  been  broken  through  and  pushed 
Far  down  the  spacious  stream-bed  of  the  River, 
Where  it  is  held  in  spite  of  fierce  assault 
Ready  to  sweep  still  onward  to  the  Gulf? 
Mark  well!  to  the  old  States  alone 
Belongs  that  Fatal  Line  impassable 
As  yet,  but  henceforth  to  be  passed." 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  323 

Amid  these  words  a  distant  rumbled  voice 

Upheaved  out  the  horizon  of  the  "West; 

Disdain  the  shadow  shrugged  and  looked  its  scorn, 

Whisking  askance  to  fling  its  haughty  scoff: 

' '  I  care  not  for  the  West,  the  wild  and  wilful  West, 

Degenerately  childed  of  my  loins, 

Ingrate  for  all  that  I  have  given  it. 

Here  I  shall  live  and  die,  on  Old  Dominion's  soil, 

And  leave  the  Border  to  its  barbarism. 

But  now  I  shall  give  out  another  note: 

M'Clellan  holds  once  more  upon  his  side 

Of  that  same  Providential  boundary. 

And  on  the  other  side  sits  Lee  opposed : 

So  is  renewed  the  Line  which  you  name  fatal — 

Just  as  they  stood  before  Antietam's  blood. 

Before  the  massacres  Peninsular; 

Your  General  confirms  all  that  I  said, 

And  clinches  by  his  deed  my  argument." 

In  Lincoln's  face  the  gleams  flashed  into  gloom, 
As  he  backed  up  resolve  with  forceful  words: 
"Then  has  the  Little  Man  too  reached  his  limit, 
I  gave  him  one  more  chance  to  cross  that  Line, 
For  he  and  all  his  friends  besought  the  test. 
If  he  has  let  the  enemy  escape. 
Establishing  anew  the  old  division 
I  shall  remove  him — be  it  said  and  done." 


S^^ LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVIII. 

Virginia  almost  gave  a  pitying  look, 
As  'twere  upon  her  God-forsaken  foe: 
"There  you  assail  the  ordinance  divine 
Proclaimed  by  cannon's  mouth  on  field  of  carnage, 
Which  now  booms  out  our  sacred  oaths  to  Heaven. ' ' 

Lincoln  responded  solemnized  in  look: 

"Another  ordinance  divine  I  hear 

Bidding  me  clutch  and  slay  the  wrong 

Which  you  would  sanctify  and  make  eternal; 

The  Devil  can't  be  canonized  by  cannon. 

I  grant  you  show  your  conscience  in  your  acts, 

Likewise  I  conscience  know  in  what  I  do, 

Though  it  be  quite  the  opposite  of  yours ; 

Above  them  both  there  is  an  arbiter 

Who  judges  of  their  suit  ac  his  tribunal. 

And  will  in  his  good  time  decision  render, 

The  last,  from  which  there  can  be  no  appeal. 

For  this  war  is  not  only  one  of  arms 

With  loud-mouthed  roar  of  smoking  gunnery,  ' 

But  stiller  is  the  conflict  of  two  consciences 

And  deeper,  for  they  point  the  bayonets 

In  ranks  opposed  and  speak  the  word  to  charge. 

A  lesson  'tis  which  I  have  had  to  learn: 

For  I  deemed  once  I  had  within  me  seated  high 

The  Judge  supreme  of  all  I  thought  and  did 

Without  the  final  umpire  over  me. 

But  now  I  know  there  tries  our  causes  both 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  325 

The  last  Justiciary  of  consciences 

Though  these  be  all  sincere  and  true  and  brave 

Keady  to  yield  up  life  as  sacrifice. 

That  is  the  real  Chief  Justice  in  whose  court 

The  Highest  Law,  which  is  the  Law  of  Laws, 

I  would  implead  for  this  my  Proclamation." 

Thus  Lincoln  spoke,  with  look  to  light  upturned; 

Whereat  the  room  was  filled  to  overflow 

"With  the  vast  Presence  of  a  confirmation 

Which  seemed  to  stretch  from  Past  to  latest  Future, 

As  if  it  would  o'erarch  all  History. 

It  blent  its  harmonies  with  Lincoln's  words, 

Whose  voice  it  took  and  filled  with  Time  and  Space 

Ubiquitous  and  sempeternal  raised 

Kesounding  down  the  record  of  the  ages. 

A  mote  recalcitrant  Virginia  stood, 

Discomforted  her  mien  and  attitude. 

Though  borne  along  in  her  defiant  spite 

On  tides  of  that  great  Ocean  cosmical 

But  Lincoln  felt  the  impress  strong  enough 
To  utter  to  it  what  lay  on  his  heart : 
"Spirit,  unbidden  thou  hast  come  again. 
At  the  right  moment  now  to  belp  me  win, 
Virginia,  lest  she  undo  herself 
Undoing  her  best  work  in  wrath — this  Nation. ' ' 


S^Q  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVIII. 

The  ghostly  dame  heard  Lincoln's  word,  but  saw 

not 
To  whom  it  was  addressed  so  loftily 
Up  in  the  viewless  air  of  vacancy ; 
More  haughty  still  she  whisked  her  spectral  skirts, 
And  shot  her  bitter  glances  into  words: 
"Your  way  to  plaster  over  self-reproach 
For  violation  of  the  Constitution, 
Which  you  did  swear  to  keep  by  vows  to  Heaven 
With  hand-clasp  on  the  book  of  Holy  Writ ! 
But  you  will  crash  your  stubborn  skull  anew 
Against  the  wall  of  Fate  which  I  have  reared 
Upon  my  soil  and  manned  with  my  defenders." 

But  Lincoln  still  upbreathed  his  high  petition : 
Urging  anew  the  one  last  overlord : 
"Canst  thou,  oh  spirit,  not  make  me  thy  hand 
To  wipe  forever  out  that  Fatal  Line 
With  which  Virginia  now  has  threatened  me? 
Or  how  it  may  be  done  engross  my  soul 
With  the  true  signature  of  thy  great  Will  ? ' ' 
The  phantom  lady  raised  apparent  eyes 
As  if  she  too  might  say  a  prayer  above 
In  counteraction  of  the  President : 
"Your  spirit's  favor  I  disdain,  defy; 
That  Line,  God-drawn,  must  stay,  though  gurgling 
blood." 


MOTHER  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  327 

Upon  such  menace  grim,  firm  Lincoln  stamped 
A  fresh  re-iteration  of  his  will: 
''Your  Fate  I  shall  compel — such  is  my  task — 
E'en  though  I  cap  it  with  my  tragedy." 

Responsive  to  the  Presidential  vow 

There  rolled  into  that  spectral  conference 

A  mighty  shout  inlaid  with  tramp  and  song, 

The  echo  of  advancing  soldiery 

As  if  the  Folk  itself  was  on  the  march ; 

Then  into  it  and  with  it  also  moved 

That  Presence  of  Eternity  now  timed, 

Filling  it  with  the  all-compelling  power 

Which  rules  the  round  of  human  deeds  through 

ages, 
In  which  Virginia's  shade  drooped  vanishing 
Yet  left  her  whispered  swoon :  ' '  The  Line  still  is. ' ' 

The  apparitions  both  had  slid  to  space, 
"When  Lincoln  seized  his  pen  and  wrote  strong- 
willed 
Selecting  a  new  General  for  the  work 
And  bidding  him  to  cross  the  Fatal  Line, 
But  he  recalled  himself  and  thus  bethought: 
''I  would  not  wrong  M'Clellan  in  this  act. 
His  recent  service  I  esteem  the  highest 
"Which  could  be  rendered  in  that  moment's  crisis. 
First  I  Sust  go  and  see  him  in  the  field. 


S28  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XVIII. 

Till  then  I  shall  put  off  the  change  once  more, 

Indeed  I  would  retain  him  if  I  can. 

And  then  that  love,  that  army's  love  for  him 

I  would  not  smite — granitic  as  the  hills 

Though  as  an  air-built  ghost  intangible. 

It  works  a  Titan's  force  in  Nature's  self, 

I  cannot  harm  it,  nor  can  I  win  it, 

It  is  M'Clellan's  owti,  inalienable. 

I  oft  have  tried  to  spy  its  unseen  way. 

Or  woo  its  secret  by  some  sly  surprise; 

Its  fealty  stays  firm  to  its  ideal, 

I\Iy  nearest  problem  now  is  just  that  love. 

Off  now  I  must,  to  scan  Antietam's  field 

Where  lies  the  Nation  bleeding  with  its  wound 

"Which  floods  the  rift  from  both  the  North  and 

South, 
Thy  crimson  line  of  Fate,  Virginia — 
I  shudder  at  the  sight — still  go  I  must." 


'§aa\x  ^ineteentl^. 


At  Antietam. 

First  Soldier. 

Now  for  a  little  rest  after  the  fight  and  a  good 
camp  smoke.  A  great  victory!  and  our  Mac  is 
again  on  top,  where  I  think  he  will  now  stay.  Lee 
is  retreating,  he  has  recrossed  the  Potomac  and 
got  back  into  his  own  country  again,  where  we  shall 
keep  him  hereafter. 

Second  Soldier. 

If  that  were  only  the  end  of  the  matter — but 
really  it  is  a  new  beginning  of  the  war,  quite  where 
we  started  more  than  a  year  ago.  I  wonder  if  this 
seesaw  is  to  continue — how  long  and  how  often? 
That  is  not  going  to  restore  the  Union  if  we  always 
have  to  come  back  to  the  place  we  started  from. 
It  is  a  Devil's  circle  and  we  are  in  Hell. 

(329) 


330    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIX. 

First  Soldier. 
Cheer  up,  comrade,  and  enjoy  our  success.  Let 
us  give  a  hip,  hip,  hurrah !  for  our  victorious  chief- 
tain who  has  driven  the  enemy  out  of  our  territory, 
hurling  him  back  to  his  own  soil.  Now  we  may 
sing  a  triumphal  song ;  the  invaders  have  been  met 
and  repulsed. 

Second  Soldier. 

True  enough,  and  I  rejoice.  Still  I  do  not  quite 
like  the  idea  of  their  soil  not  being  ours,  and  our 
soil  not  being  theirs — it  is  all  our  one  country. 
You  seem  to  draw  a  boundary  in  it,  making  it  two 
countries,  which  is  just  what  we  are  fighting  to 
overcome,  just  what  they  are  fighting  to  establish. 
To  my  mind  your  words  declare  unwittingly  that 
the  other  side  has  won  even  in  our  victory. 

First  Soldier. 
Fine  hair-splitting  is  that;  good  enough  in 
theory,  but  worthless  in  practice  which  is  our  task, 
and  which  requires  two  battle-lines,  and  now,  they 
are  drawn  again.  Say  what  you  please,  there  is  a 
North  and  a  South,  Secession  and  Union,  which 
are  arrayed  against  each  other  along  two  deeply 
separated   fronts — the   one   here,    the   other   over 

yonder. 

Second  Soldier. 
Aye,  but  that  is  not  the  whole  of  it.    If  our  side 
truly  wins,  we  must  not  allow  the  foe  to  fix  perma- 


AT  ANTIETAM.  331 

nently  his  hostile  limit  against  us;  that  is  just 
what  we  are  to  break  down,  else  what  is  the  use  of 
fighting?  I  have  heard  that  Mac  had  some  30,000 
fresh  troops,  which  he  did  not  put  into  battle  or 
employ  seriously  for  the  pursuit  of  the  retreating 
Southerners.    Why  is  that  ? 

First  Soldier. 
I  know  that  the  authorities  at  Washington  are 
sending  out  such  news  over  the  country  for  the  pur- 
pose of  injuring  M'Clellan,  who  is  so  beloved  of 
us  all,  excepting  a  few  grumblers  like  you.  I  sup- 
pose they  are  getting  ready  to  remove  him  again — 
he  is  too  great  for  them.  I  dare  tell  you  Avhat  I 
believe:  Mac  will  yet  have  to  take  into  his  own 
hands  the  government,  before  anything  gets  done. 
Some  call  this  treason,  but  it  runs  a  common  ru- 
mor among  us  private  soldiers.  What  a  botch  did 
Old  Abe  make  by  his  interference  during  the  Pen- 
insular campaign!  If  Mac  could  have  had  his 
way,  we  would  now  be  in  Richmond. 

Second  Soldier. 
I  see  that  you,  like  every  enlisted  blue-coat  in 
this  war,  are  an  accomplished  strategist.  That  is, 
indeed,  our  right  as  American  citizens.  I  am  en- 
gaged in  fathoming  a  piece  of  strategy  myself,  and 
I  shall  tell  you  what  it  is.  I  was  not  in  the  recent 
battle,  nor  was  my  division,  though  we  were  lying 


332    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIX. 

almost  within  gun-shot  eager  to  rush  in,  as  we 
heard  the  roar  of  the  firing;  nor  have  we  been  sent 
in  pursuit  to  any  purpose;  something  seems  to  be 
holding  us  back,  or  at  least  leaving  us  idle;  what 
is  it?  Such  is  my  strategic  problem,  which  seems 
not  to  be  present  to  you,  nor  to  most  of  your  com- 
rades here. 

First  Soldier. 
I  trust  all  that  to  Little  Mac  in  whom  I  have 
complete  confidence.  I  hear  that  the  President  is 
coming  out  to  pay  us  a  visit.  I  wish  he  would  keep 
away,  and  leave  Mac  alone,  who  would  have  ended 
this  war  months  ago,  if  his  hands  had  not  been  tied. 
I  confess  to  another  disgruntlement :  that  fresh  ab- 
olition document  of  the  President,  which  was 
printed  a  day  of  two  ago  under  the  name  of  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  is  not  at  all  to  my 
liking.  It  changes  the  whole  scope  of  the  war  for 
which  we  enlisted. 

Second  Soldier. 

Therein  again  I  shall  have  to  differ  from  you.  It 
has  been  plainly  shown  that  slavery  stands  in  the 
w^ay  of  Union,  and  so  must  be  wiped  out.  But  is 
Old  Abe  coming  out  to  see  us  here  ?  How  I  would 
like  to  march  in  review  before  him  and  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  his  long  legs  again,  with  his  big  feet  in 
the  stirrups.  He  is  my  man  of  the  whole  set,  civil- 
ians and  soldiers,  especially  since  that  great  pro- 


AT  ANTIETAM.  333 

nouneement  of  an  enfranchised  Nation.  We  can 
win  now  because  we  ought  to  win.  How  dearly  I 
want  to  see  Lincoln,  who  at  present  stands  above 
all  men  for  what  this  war  means! 

Fit'st  Soldier. 

Not  to  my  notion  is  his  mount — too  uncouth,  too 
unsoldierly.  How  the  little  M'Clellan  surpasses 
him  in  lordliness  and  magnificence  when  they  are 
seen  together  riding  along  the  ranks  of  the  well- 
drilled  polished  soldiery !  Besides  Mac  shows  him- 
self the  ruler. 

Second  Soldier. 

He  has  wonderful  magnetism  and  I  see  that  you 
are  magnetized  into  a  kind  of  spell-bound  ador- 
ation. Though  I  wear  the  blue,  I  am  still  an 
American  citizen  with  my  own  vote,  which  I  cast 
for  big  Father  Abraham  against  your  Little  Mac. 

First  Soldier. 

No  voting  is  necessary  now,  though  it  may  come 
to  that  issue  literally.  I  confess  to  a  political  feel- 
ing about  M  'Clellan  as  well  as  a  military ;  there  is 
an  undercurrent  of  the  sort  in  this  army.  Of 
course  we  dream  our  hero  as  President  when  he 
shall  come  to  his  own;  such  is  our  final  promotion 
of  our  leader. 

Second  Soldier. 

I  have  heard  of  that;  evidently  the  two  parties 


334    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE—BOOK  XIX. 

are  already  aligning  themselves  for  the  Presidential 
year.  But  enough!  do  you  hear  that  bugle?  It 
calls  me  to  parade — I  hope  to  prepare  for  Lin- 
coln's reception. 

First  Soldier. 

Now  look  up  to  yon  tented  hillock,  it  is  M'Clel- 
lan's  Headquarters.  There  he  is  walking  to  and 
fro  in  contemplation;  great  thoughts  are  doubtless 
surging  in  his  head — soon,  I  believe  to  be  realized. 

Second  Soldier. 
Let  me  take  a  good  eye-shot  at  him  from  this 
distance — perhaps  I  may  hit  his  tune.  Look  how 
jerkily  he  steps!  He  must  be  lashed  by  his  own 
reflections.  No  small  amount  of  agitation  is  busy 
in  that  little  framework  of  his;  I  have  my  guess 
what  it  is  about. 

First  Soldier. 

He  is  merely  taking  a  brief  round  before  his 
meal.  How  little  do  you  people  know  his  great- 
ness! Make  a  complete  revision  of  yourself — and 
now  be  off. 


AT  ANTIETAM.  335 


M'Clellan  alone. 
Saved  worthless  Washington  again  I  have ! 
Though  but  the  fortress  of  my  bitter  foes 
Who  risk  the  Nation  in  their  hate  of  me! 
Thence  comes  a  growl  in  spite  of  my  great  deed, 
Because  I  did  not  capture  Lee's  whole  army, 
But  let  it  march  in  peace  to  its  old  haunts. 
Fools  in  high  places !  weening  that  they  know 
The  art  of  war,  and  daring  to  prescribe 
What  I  shall  do  in  my  domain  of  peril 
From  their  safe  perch  inside  the  Capital! 
Stanton,  trained  only  to  his  legal  quibbles. 
Though  set  above  the  soldier  by  his  office. 
Bids  me  at  once  pursue  the  rebel  troops 
Who  still  outnumber  mine,  as  I  believe. 
But  I  am  glad  of  this  Potomac's  flow 
Which  they  have  placed  between  themselves  and  me, 
And  left  our  soil  free  of  their  presence  dread. 
Mad  Stanton  is  the  evil  genius  throned 
Which  seeks  my  ruin  and  the  Nation's  too. 
And  Halleck  hither  sends  me  his  command: 
A  Western  failure  brought  to  Washington 
Who  with  a  hundred  thousand  men  once  took 
Corinth,  manned  with  wood-guns  but  not  a  man; 
He  would  perchance  now  have  me  do  the  same. 


336    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIX. 

I  know  that  Halleck  is  a  soldier  trained, 

Books  he  has  written  of  war's  theory, 

And  given  lectures  on  grand  strategy, 

Telling  about  the  things  he  could  not  do. 

I  read  his  bookish  stuff  unpractical, 

But  only  recollect  that  I  forgot  it, 

So  pointless  that  it  would  not  stick  my  brain. 

And  now  as  Chief-of-staff  to  the  President — 

An  office  made  to  get  him  out  the  way — 

He  gives  me  a  short  job  to  capture  Lee, 

As  if  that  were  an  easy  holiday 

To  hug  the  savage  bear  which  might  hug  me, 

To  pluck  ripe  fruit  which  he  could  never  reach; 

And  if  I  could  I  doubt  if  it  were  best. 

I  whisper  to  myself  my  secret  thought: 

Too  great  a  victory  might  be  our  curse. 

Then  all  this  talk  which  stabs  from  everywhere. 
Comparing  me  with  Grant,  the  Westerner, 
Has  its  first  source  from  dismal  Washington,. 
Which  city  I  have  saved  to  be  my  fate. 
I  have  to  read  and  even  hear  this  scorn: 
"Now  take  a  Donelson  here  in  the  East 
And  duplicate  for  us  that  great  success. 
Breaking  the  hostile  line  as  yet  unbroken." 
So  runs  the  senseless  jargon  of  the  hour, 
Dreaming  to  conquer  armies  with  a  phrase. 
That  Grant  I  ordered  twice  to  be  cashiered 


AT  ANTIETAM.  337 

For  drunkenness,  but  our  wise  President 

Came  to  his  rescue  with  a  wretched  joke 

And  with  a  fling  at  me  saying  ' '  He  fights ' ' ! 

As  if  I  never  fought  and  would  not  fight. 

Some  even  hint  that  Grant  should  be  brought  hither 

Whom  I  avoided  taking  on  my  staff 

When  he  in  writ  applied  at  Cincinnati; 

But  he  is  fitted  only  for  a  fight; 

At  West-Point  trained,  he  quite  has  lost  its  polish 

Lax  in  the  academic  discipline. 

Without  true  soldier's  ceremonial, 

Shunning  the  sheen  and  pomp  of  arms'  parade; 

With  troops  whom  I  have  moulded  to  my  soul 

He  would  not  be  at  home  e'en  if  he  came. 

He  could  not  take  my  place  in  their  affection, 

I  drill  them  till  they  love  me  in  their  drill, 

Another  would  be  hated  for  such  forms. 

But  of  disorder  Lincoln  shows  enough, 
Making  the  White-House  a  boor's  paradise 
Where  every  clown  and  crank  have  access  free 
To  jibe  a  jest  or  pour  some  panacea 
For  curing  all  the  time's  big  deviltry. 
I  knew  him  when  I  lived  in  Illinois, 
I  saw  him  challenge  to  debate  great  Douglas, 
Saw  how  he  pandered  to  the  populace. 
By  prating  freedom  and  by  telling  stories 
Till  the  rail-splitter  of  the  Sangamon 


338    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIX. 

Was  borne  up  to  the  Nation's  Presidency 
"Whence  now  he  sends  his  proclamation  forth 
To  free  the  slaves  'gainst  Law  and  Constitution, 
To  which  he  swore  his  last  obedience. 
And  so  the  rift  between  the  North  and  South 
Has  widened  out  far  greater  than  before, 
Whereby  the  fight  will  grow  more  desperate 
And  Union  be  henceforth  much  further  off. 

Down  at  the  Lauding  on  the  River  James 

When  he  was  there,  I  gave  him  best  advice 

Against  such  actions  mad,  and  wrote  it  out 

Although  I  marked  he  deemed  me  out  my  sphere 

In  meddling  thus  with  matters  of  the  State, 

For  I  have  noticed  oft  his  jealousy 

If  I  would  dare  a  word  political; 

I  was  to  keep  my  military  cage 

Lest  I  might  break  out  thence  and  take  his  place. 

Suspicion  of  me  grinds  him  day  and  night. 

For  his  own  weakness  has  called  up  a  word 

And  sent  it  under-breathed  throughout  the  land — 

A  word  which  fevers  him :  dictatorship. 

I  say  he  is  himself  the  cause  of  it 

Though  he  would  throw  the  blame  on  other  people. 

Especially  on  me  for  thinking  how 

We  must  in  the  last  pinch  restore  the  Union, 

Though  he  be  the  chief  obstacle — just  he. 


AT  ANTIETAM.  339 

But  mark !  here  on  a  gallop  to  me  rides 

An  orderly  still  roweling  his  steed 

And  bears  a  message  fresh  from  Washington. 

I  look  upon  his  coming  with  disgust, 

Another  numbskull  interference  I  forecast. 

If  they  would  only  leave  me  to  myself 

And  let  me  carry  out  my  grand  designs 

Of  which  they  have  no  brain  for  comprehension, 

Equiping  me  with  men  and  means  enough, 

I  soon  would  put  a  period  to  this  war 

So  long  drawn  out  by  the  incapables 

And  still  to  last  in  rage  more  bloodily 

Unless  I  somehow  touch  the  helm  of  State 

And  sway  its  drifting  to  the  right  direction. 

"What  is  this  news  I  read?    The  President 

Is  coming  out  to  visit  us  in  person, 

And  will  inspect  his  army  in  the  field 

As  chief  Commander  of  it  over  me. 

Whose  higher  soldiership  I  must  obey. 

Heaven !  what  an  invasion  damnable ! 

The  soldier's  outlet  is  profanity 

When  he  is  filled  up  to  the  brim  with  spite, 

Which  I  as  right  church-member  have  essayed 

To  dam  from  its  bad  overflow  somewhat 

By  regulations  worded  to  my  troops; 

But  now  I  feel  myself  like  saying  damn 

If  I  again  must  brook  that  President 


340    LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XIX. 

Who  comes  out  hither  smelling  all  about 
To  find  some  little  defect  in  my  work 
And  meanly  fault  me  for  not  marching  faster. 
See  there !  he  comes !  I  mark  his  long-legged  strad- 
dle 
Upon  his  plunging  steed,  his  high  pipe-hat 
Unlike  the  tilted  blue-cap  of  our  soldier. 
And  at  his  side  his  satelite  detective. 
Out  of  such  view  I  slink  me  to  my  tent. 


^00h  Cto^ntid^* 


Lincoln's  Return  From  Antietam. 

Lincoln   (alone). 
A  jangled  world  outside  me  and  within! 
The  Lord  himself  seems  out  of  tune  to-day, 
And  all  the  antique  music  of  the  spheres 
Is  grating  godless  in  a  cosmic  clash ! 
I  have  just  seen  the  field  of  victory 
And  strolled  along  Antietam 's  rivulet, 
Till  where  it  ripples  with  Potomac's  flow. 
I  have  conversed  with  men  and  officers 
"Who  have  outbraved  the  foe  in  winning  fight 
Though  thousands  lie  in  stillness  tombed, 
Or  gasp  their  wounded  lot  in  hospitals. 
And  yet  despite  the  triumph  of  our  arms, 
There  is  a  discord  rising  from  our  own ; 

(341) 


342      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XX. 

I  found  M'Clellan  tuneless  to  his  task, 

The  army  too  I  felt  in  undertones 

Of  dissonance  with  our  new  policy, 

In  subtle  echo  to  its  leader's  will 

"Which  seems  its  organism's  own  throughout, 

With  thrill  electric  to  his  unvoiced  self — 

His  the  one  soul  of  that  one  massive  body. 

Oh  that  I  might  get  hold  of  just  that  love 

With  its  weird  fascination  over  hearts! 

It  even  works  a  charm  upon  myself 

Against  myself,  and  strains  me  to  resist  it. 

When  I  but  touch  its  presence  magical ; 

It  pulsed  me  when  I  came  within  its  lines, 

I  half  relented  when  I  faced  M'Clellan 

And  listened  to  his  voiceful  sympathy 

Which  tranced  his  words  into  my  very  soul 

Swooning  away  a  moment  in  that  flood 

Of  personality 's  own  ecstacy : 

I  cannot  shake  me  of  the  prophecy 

That  such  a  man  with  Love 's  primeval  dower 

Which  the  Creator  stirred  to  make  the  world 

Must  somewhere  have  his  part  within  our  task. 

And  needed  be  to  heap  the  measure  round 

Which  is  fulfillment  of  our  destiny. 

Fain  would  I  utilize  such  merit  rare, 

Participating  in  the  deepest  bond 

Which  holds  of  God  the  universe  together. 


LINCOLN'S  RETURN  FROM  ANTIETAM.       343 

I  would  transfer  it  to  myself — oli  how ! 

Or  to  another,  but  I  know  him  not — 

A  General  whose  skill  throbs  love, 

The  soldier's  love  defiant  of  defeat. 

A  following  of  citizens  belike, 

"Whom  I  would  win  as  mine,  M'Clellan  holds — 

Those  who  will  keep  the  Union  as  it  was. 

Where   lies   the  Nation's   turning-point   just   now 

Into   the   order   new   of   world   enfranchised. 

United  North  against  divided  South 

Till  we  may  rid  this  of  its  sore  division. 

Has  been,  since  Douglas  spoke  his  great  farewell, 

My  striven  policy  for  braver  concord 

In  which  all  partisans  might  sink  theit  strife 

To  face  the  common  peril  of  the  country. 

Alas !  that  peril  sounds  again  the  omen, 

The  omen  dread  which  wafts  me  shivers  chill 

Along  the  nervy  flushes  of  my  brain:- 

For  at  its  hint  I  see  once  more  the  Fatal  Line 

Streaming  around  through  all  my  imagery, 

As  if  a  Fury  bent  on  clutching  me 

Just  at  the  worth  supreme  of  all  my  deeds. 

Would  pluck  me  in  the  act  of  flowering. 

And  throne  me  on  new  heights  of  tragedy. 

M'Clellan  is  now  standing  to  that  Line, 

But  there  he  shrinks  to  move  a  step  beyond. 

He  dares  not  tiptoe  to  a  fearful  look 


344      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XX. 

Into  the  chasm  of  that  monstrous  spell 
Lest  he  behold  himself  in  counterpart. 
He  has  the  Fatal  Line  run  in  him  too, 
He  is  it  now — he  has  become  it  here 
Under  the  transformation  of  his  genius; 
And  my  next  task  is  to  encounter  that, 
And  cast  it  out  ere  this  great  army  moves 
Its  works  of  war  across  the  Fatal  Line 
Whose  coils  I  must  undo  or  in  them  die. 

And  yet  that  army's  love  I  have  to  smite 

If  I  cut  off  its  leader  from  command ; 

The  very  thought  of  it  is  torture 's  hell 

That  inwardly  I  groan  in  agony; 

For  what  is  deepest  in  my  spirit's  hope 

And  drops  me  purest  balm  for  sorest  fate, 

The  giver  of  my  only  blessedness. 

The  love  of  man  which  fuses  many  men, 

I  have  to  stab  within  these  soldiers'  hearts 

When  I  shall  sever  them  from  their  ideal, 

And  break  the  common  bond  which  centers  there. 

Such  is  the  counterstroke  in  my  own  self: 

The  blow  I  give  unto  that  army's  Love 

I  feel  rebound  in  hate  upon  mine  own, 

And  I  must  bleed  for  those  I  have  to  wound, 

I  am  the  penalty  and  guilt  in  one: 

And  yet  that  is  the  deed  I  have  to  do; 

M'Clellan  is  not  now  the  minded  man 


LINCOLN'S  RETURN  FROM  ANTIETAM.       345 

To  help  restore  emancipated  Union. 
The  mighty  cleft  in  it  he  cannot  close, 
For  it  is  in  him  deep  as  in  this  land 
And  with  him  it  will  rift  his  soldiery. 

While  at  his  tent  we  sat  amid  his  staff, 

Lamon  began  to  sing  a  little  song 

By  my  request  to  ban  my  inner  discord, 

Which  had  crept  over  me  in  my  sad  visit 

And  more  unstrung  me  there  at  those  headquarters. 

I  marked  the  echo  in  the  featured  looks 

Which  glanced  at  me  their  high-bred  irony; 

The  music  made  the  larger  dissonance, 

Whereat  we  two  arose  and  bade  good-bye 

In  courtesy  I  hope,  but  yet  in  flight.  • 

And  as  I  quit  the  camp,  the  Fatal  Line 

I  saw  within  it  and  on  front  of  it 

Aye  running  through  it  everywhere, 

More  plainly  writ  than  I  had  ever  seen, 

And  read  the  letters  of  the  gory  lesson 

More  deeply  crimsoned  than  they  flashed  before, 

Until  I  felt  the  pressure  of  the  Presence 

Which  bids  me  act  by  its  supernal  best. 

And  which  I  dare  not  shy  in  misbelief : 

That  Upper  Cabinet  of  mine  it  was 

Who  first  decreed  to  me  this  Proclamation, 

And  stamped  the  impress  of  it  on  my  soul, 

So  that  it  always  stood  before  my  inner  eye 


346      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XX. 

Unfurling  everywhere  its  lettered  scroll 

Which  I  must  spell  and  syllable  within 

Until  the  very  words  I  learned  by  heart, 

And  wrote  them  down  upon  my  document. 

This  then  I  read  my  Lower  Cabinet 

Who  gave  approval  to  the  writ, 

With  words  of  argument  on  this  and  that. 

But  yet  it  was  not  theirs,  it  was  not  mine. 

We  were  the  channels  of  that  higher  stream 

Which  from  above  flows  down  through  mortal  men, 

And  bears  their  deeds  on  to  their  final  goal, 

Whose  thought  is  wreathed  in  higher  harmonies, 

Yet  to  be  played  to  future  generations. 

But  what  a  shock  discordant  grates  below. 

And  still  convulses  me  between  two  loves. 

The  one  of  which  must  throttle  now  the  other! 

It  is  a  task  which  rends  the  heart  in  two. 

And  makes  the  brain  reel  round  at  its  own  stroke ! 

That  Line  I  must  start  to  eliminate, 

Although  M'Clellan  be  it  in  himself; 

But  can  I  find  another  General 

So  free  of  it  that  he  can  smite  it  down  ? 

Once  I  have  tried  but  soon  I  had  to  shrink, 

And  to  restore  the  leader  whom  I  dropped. 

It  is  a  hazard  dread  which  shudders  me. 

But  I  must  dare  again  else  we  are  lost. 


LINCOLN'S  RETURN  FROM  ANTIETAM.      347 

Meanwhile  let  me  but  watch  the  star  of  hope 

Which  twinkles  still  its  smile  in  Western  skies, 

For  there  the  South 's  resurgence  has  been  stayed 

And  beaten  back  beyond  its  broken  front ; 

But  I  must  still  wait  for  the  coming  man 

Whose  dawn  perchance  I  spy,  0  may  he  rise 

And  in  the  sheen  of  deeds  strip  off  obscurity  ! 

So  I  indwell  this  world  of  dissonance, 

Hoping  to  choir  it  yet  to  music  sweet 

When  these  harsh  days  have  jolted  off  to  chaos. 

But  hark !  another  jar  begins  to  grate — 

Not  now  the  untuned  military  one — 

Its  sound  is  different,  yet  threatening — 

It  must  be  found  and  to  the  surface  brought. 


laah  ^imnt^'^xxBt 


The  New  Dictatorship. 

Postmaster  General. 

Before  this  new  sort  of  battle  begins  fire,  I  wish, 
Mr.  President,  to  liave  a  little  consultation  with 
you  in  advance.  Of  course  I  am  going  to  take  a 
hand,  naturally  on  the  side  of  the  Cabinet,  against 
this  attempt  at  Senatorial  domination.  It  is  sig- 
nificant how  every  branch  of  Government,  or  the 
individuals  at  its  head,  will  usurp  the  supreme 
power,  in  the  present  time  of  upheaval.  First  ap- 
peared the  trend  toward  a  military  dictatorship, 
both  in  the  East  and  the  West.  That  was  per- 
haps to  be  expected,  as  the  soldier  must  be  profes- 
sionally an  autocrat;  I  know  him  for  I  graduated 

(348) 


THE  NEW  DICTATORSHIP.  349 

at  "West-Point  myself.  But  now  rises  the  monster 
of  a  civil  dictatorship,  on  the  part  of  men  who 
are  makers  of  the  Law,  and  should  not  be  its  vio- 
lators. 

The  President. 

Yes,  everybody  seems  to  want  to  get  into  my 
shoes,  thinking  it  an  easy  task  to  manage  the 
government  in  a  time  of  civil  war.  I  at  least  am 
finding  the  job  a  hard  one,  the  holiday  of  it  is 
3'et  to  come.  The  Senatorial  Committee  which 
proposes  to  dictate  who  shall  be  members  of  my 
Cabinet,  has  not  escaped  my  attention  in  the  past 
months,  though  their  descent  upon  me  this  morn- 
ing was  somewhat  sudden.  Their,  attack  was 
chiefly  directed  against  Seward,  and  to  a  less  de- 
gree against  the  rest  of  you,  but  indirectly  it  was 
aimed  at  me,  being  planned  to  break  up  my  Cab- 
inet and  leave  me  helpless  without  advisers,  and 
the  chief  departments  without  official  heads. 
Seward,  having  heard  of  the  movement,  had  al- 
ready sent  me  his  resignation. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  see,  I  see.  You  then  summoned  your  official 
family  and  warned  us  of  the  impending  onslaught, 
bidding  us  get  ready  to  resist.  I  believe  I  shall 
enjoy  the  fight — a  civil  duel  between  two  branches 
of  the  Government,  executive  and  legislative. 


350      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXI. 

The  President. 
Undoubtedly,  but  let  me  warn  you.  Both  sides 
are  for  the  Union,  yea  of  the  same  political  party 
which  supports  the  war.  So  I  must  not  let  the 
said  committee  break  up  my  Cabinet  in  its  own  in- 
terest or  in  that  of  some  possible  Presidential  can- 
didate; such  inner  disruption  would  give  en- 
couragement to  the  common  enemy.  Still  I  must 
not  alienate  that  committee,  which  is  composed  of 
the  Senate's  ablest  men,  and  all  of  them  holding 
our  political  creed.  Therefore  restrain  your  bel- 
licose disposition,  do  not  make  a  permanent 
breach  between  us  and  them,  we  shall  need  them. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  do  not  deny  that  I  have  my  good  Scotch 
broadsword  ready  for  those  who  would  hamstring 
the  executive  Power  by  legislative  usurpation.  To 
my  mind  a  Senatorial  dictatorship  is  far  less  ex- 
cusable, because  far  less  natural,  than  a  military 
dictatorship ;  the  soldier  has  to  be  arbitrary,  tho 
lawyer  ought  to  be  always  legal.  Chiefly  because 
of  that  distinction  I  passed  in  my  career  from  the 
army  to  the  law. 

The  President. 

Hold,  my  friend  of  legality;  on  this  ease  also  I 
would  cite  precedent.  The  gentlemen  composing 
this   Committee  are  deeply  grounded   in  English 


THE  NEW  DICTATORSHIP.  35I 

jurisprudence  from,  which  ours  is  derived,  and 
have  imbibed  more  or  less  of  its  character.  Now 
the  whole  movement  of  English  History,  I  may 
say,  of  the  English  legal  consciousness,  is  the  limi- 
tation of  the  king's  power  by  parliament,  that  is, 
of  the  executive  authority  by  the  legislative.  The 
result  is  that  Parliament  is  declared  supreme,  hav- 
ing practically  usurped  all  the  other  supreme  func- 
tions of  Government.  In  fact  the  process  is  still 
going  on:  the  House  of  Commons  has  been  trying 
to  swallow  that  of  the  Lords,  and  may  do  it  yet. 
So  I  hold  that  this  Senatorial  Committee,  com- 
posed as  it  is  of  Anglo-Saxon  lawyers,  have  sim- 
ply manifested  the  Anglo-Saxon  legal  spirit,  as 
is  has  come  down  through  a  long  evolution  of  cen- 
turies. To  be  sure,  personal  ambition  plays  in, 
and  lust  for  power,  and  factional  hate;  still  in  its 
very  nature  the  legislative  mind  will  rasp  against 
the  executive  power  and  try  to  curb  it — 

Postmaster  General. 

And  suspect  it  of  all  sorts  of  schemes  of  usurpa- 
tion, which  is  just  what  the  legislator  is  doing 
himself.  I  can  find  the  traces  of  this  spirit  in  our 
own  Constitution  made  of  course  by  English  Ameri- 
cans. Have  you  never  noticed  how  full  is  the 
legislative  section,  compared  to  the  executive  sec- 
tion, and  how  carefully  fenced  off  and  buttressed 
on  all  sides? 


352     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXI. 

The  President. 
Now  that  you  speak  of  it,  I  remember.  So  you 
agree  that  these  men  are  simply  acting  out  their 
inherited  consciousness,  and  cannot  altogether  help 
themselves.  You  see  I  am  trying  to  understand 
them,  and  I  have  to  trace  their  conduct  on  lines 
deeper  than  they  themselves  are  aware  of.  Mark, 
too,  I  am  a  lawyer,  and  seek  to  appreciate  the  legal 
spirit  on  the  side  of  its  greatest  worth.  We  can- 
not do  without  it,  as  this  is  a  government  of  law, 
which  is  just  what  I  am  trying  to  save. 

Postmaster  General. 
I  cannot  help  adding  that  you  have  several  law- 
yers in  your  Cabinet,  who  seem  to  be  touched 
with  that  same  spirit  of  limiting  executive  author- 
ity— at  least  your  authority.  And  that  is  the  chief 
difficulty  before  us  in  the  coming  battle.  I  am 
afraid  that  some  of  the  Cabinet,  instead  of  stand- 
ing to  the  fire-line,  and  fighting  with  us,  may  go 
over  to  the  enemy.  Not  one  alone,  but  possibly 
more.  Indeed  it  is  my  opinion  that  this  whole 
turmoil  started  from  certain  members  of  the  Cab- 
inet intrigueing  with  the  Senatorial  Committee, 
even  if  this  has  its  own  ambition  for  greater  power. 

The  President. 
I  think  I  know  whom  you  mean.     But  let  me 
whisper  to  you  in  confidence  what  I  am  eager  to 


THE  NEW  DICTATORSHIP.     '  353 

get  hold  of — it  is  Chase's  resignation  to  counter- 
balance that  of  Seward.  I  tell  you  in  order  that 
you  may  be  careful  not  to  spoil  my  game,  but  to 
help  me  to  success.  Then  I  can  keep  you  all  with 
me,  and  thwart  the  Senate  Committee,  without  of- 
fending its  members  seriously.  Privately  let  me 
say  to  you  that  this  whole  movement  is  gotten  up 
in  the  interest  of  Chase  as  the  coming  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  But  I  cannot  dismiss  him;  I 
am  aware  of  no  man  equal  to  him  in  his  present 
office;  then  I  must  not  permit  him  to  get  outside 
of  the  administration  of  the  government,  where 
he  could  do  much  harm,  possibly  head  a  new  party 
in  opposition.  I  deem  it  the  highest  .test  of  my 
capacity  that  I  be  able  to  keep  together  the  two 
extremes,  conservative  and  radical,  Seward  and 
Chase,  and  make  them  work  in  co-operation.  The 
union  of  my  Cabinet  is  the  first  won  Union.  Many 
are  the  dictators  whom  I  must  meet — Cabinet  dic- 
tators, military  dictators,  and  now  legislative  dic- 
tators— 

Postmaster  General. 

Well,  here  they  come  in  a  body;  the  whole  Com- 
mittee, nine  of  them,  have  passed  through  the 
gate.  See  Sumner  leading  the  way,  watch  his 
high-chinned  dictatorial  strut,  his  air  is  that  of  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  White  House — 


354      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXI. 

The  President. 
Let  forbearance  rule  in  our  words  and  in  our 
hearts,    I  deem  it  a  very  critical  moment,  fraught 
with  greater  peril  to  our  cause  than  a  battle  with 
Lee.     Stay  by  me,  you  are  the  one  to  defend  the 
Cabinet,  but  let  there  be  moderation.    I  do  not  in- 
tend to  say  much,  I  shall  sit  as  judge  before  both 
sides,  the  accusers  and  accused,  and  let  each  of 
them  assail  the  other  and  defend  itself,  till  both 
of  them  even  themselves  out  in  charge  and  coun- 
tercharge, and  are  ready  for  a  mutual  understand- 
ing and  new  peace.    Moreover,  I  wish  to  see  which 
side  our  good  friend,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, will  take  in  the  fight.     I  think  the  storm  will 
clear  the  atmosphere  generally.     Soon  the  Cabinet 
will  appear,  I  timed  them  some  minutes  later  than 
the  Senators,  who  will  be  surprised  when  they  find 
themselves  face  to  face  with  those  whom  they  have 
accused. 

Postmaster  General. 
A  great  scheme  indeed!  It  beats  anything  my 
father  ever  did  in  the  way  of  political  strategy. 
Already  the  Senatorial  dictatorship  cannot  dic- 
tate, but  is  thrown  back  upon  its  own  defence. 
How  I  pulse  to  give  it  some  home-thrusts! 

The  President. 
Again   I  must  beg  you   to   put   a   guard   over 
yourself.     "We  do  not  wish  to  estrange  these  Sen- 


THE  NEW  DICTATORSHIP.  S55 

ators  but  win  them,  or  a  majority  of  them,  who 
are  certainly  not  devoid  of  insight  and  patriotism. 
But  here  come  your  associates  of  the  Cabinet,  as 
they  agreed  to  do  this  morning  at  my  solicitation. 
They  know  what  is  in  the  air  evidently. 

Postmaster  General. 

I  have  been  observing  them  for  some  moments 
through  the  window,  as  they  slowly  and  rather 
meditatively  trudge  along  the  walk.  Especially  I 
am  watching  Chase,  who  lags  alone  in  the  rear ;  he 
is  plainly  non-plussed  by  the  situation  he  feels 
himself  in.  There !  he  stops  in  his  tracks  and 
lapses  into  a  brown  study.  He  seems  debating 
with  himself  whether  he  will  continue  his  trip  or 
turn  back.  He  acts  as  if  he  felt  himself  caught  in 
a  trap.  See !  a  fellow  member,  "Welles,  returns  to 
him  and  takes  him  by  the  arm.    A  fresh  advance ! 

The  President. 

You  may  take  your  place  among  the  Cabinet ;  be 
alert  for  defence,  but  remember  my  warning !  The 
Committee  looks  astonished  at  the  presence  of  their 
culprits,  who  propose  not  only  defence  but  at- 
tack. I  see  the  Attorney  General  is  ready  with 
the  Constitutional  argument — I  shall  enter  and  set 
the  ball  a-rolling. 


356      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXI. 


Postmaster  General  (alone). 

The  episode  is  over,  though  it  lasted  several 
days.  So  I  have  come  out  to  Silver  Springs  to  take 
a  little  rest  in  the  country,  and  to  think  back  on 
the  drama  which  has  turned  out  a  veritable  com- 
edy. Most  amusing  was  the  scene  when  Lincoln 
actually  snatched  from  Chase's  hand  the  latter 's 
resignation  when  he  had  drawn  it  from  his  pocket 
and  was  still  holding  it  in  a  kind  of  doubt  or  pos- 
sibly menace.  So  Lincoln  had  the  two  resignations 
of  the  two  hostile  counterparts  of  his  Cabinet, 
Seward  and  Chase,  and  could  balance  one  against 
the  other,  keep  both  in  his  Cabinet,  and  handsomely 
nullify  the  Senatorial  interference.  The  most 
skillful  political  device  that  I  ever  saw  plaj^ed ! 
Lincoln  could  not  contain  himself,  but  sprang  up 
elated  with  one  of  his  very  rare  looks  of  happi- 
ness, and  plumped  out  perhaps  his  best  rural  met- 
aphor: "Now  I  can  ride,  I  have  got  a  pumpkin 
in  each  end  of  my  bag. "  So  we  could  see  Lincoln 
with  his  long  legs  getting  a-straddle  of  his  donkey 
again  in  peace. 

The  President  then  ordered  both  of  his  resigned 
ministers  to  resume  their  customary  official  duties. 
Seward  obeyed  with  alacrity,  since  he  at  once  saw 


THE  NEW  DICTATORSHIP.  S57 

through  the  whole  game ;  Chase  with  hesitation  and 
sullenness,  for  how  could  he  help  feeling  completely 
outwitted  and  defeated?  But  he  was  unable  to 
find  any  excuse  for  quitting  his  post;  such  a  de- 
sertion would  be  his  political  decease.  And  the 
legislative  usurpers  shrank  back  to  their  haunts 
utterly  thwarted;  though  one  of  them,  Trumbull, 
stayed  behind  for  a  while,  to  frame  to  Lincoln  some 
excuse  for  such  conduct  toward  an  old  friend  and 
benefactor,  or  possibly  to  declare  his  penitence. 
So  ends  the  civil  dictatorship,  be  it  of  the  Senate 
or  of  the  Cabinet;  Lincoln  makes  it  conclude  it- 
self in  a  comedy.    Ha !  Ha  !  Tee  Hee ! 

But  my  laugh  cannot  last ;  here  are  the  awful 
details  of  that  butchery  of  our  troops  at  Fred- 
ericksburg; by  it  we  are  whirled  into  the  bloodiest 
tragedy,  and  the  sigh,  yea  the  tear  will  bubble  up. 
My  God,  how  long !  Utter  incompetency  of  mili- 
tary leadership!  If  Lincoln's  political  strategy 
could  somehow  be  transformed  into  military  strat- 
egy, the  war  would  be  brought  to  a  close  in  a 
month  or  two.  Impossible  it  seems  out  of  this 
huge,  well-disciplined  Eastern  army  to  evolve  a 
General.  Still  another  trial  will  have  to  be  made; 
Burnside  cannot  be  retained.  But  who  is  to  suc- 
ceed him?  Alas  who?  Hooker  is  spoken  of,  but 
hazardous  will  be  the  experiment  with  a  man  of 


358      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXL 

his  known  habits.  Very  strange  but  doubtless  sig- 
nificant is  the  sterility  of  this  great  army  in  pro- 
ducing military  leaders.  And  still  after  Emanci- 
pation's offering  victory  averts  her  face.  What 
can  it  all  mean?  But  I  must  quit  this  brooding, 
else  I  shall  drop  dead. 


i00h  Ctoentg-Strnntr. 


Lincoln^s  Curse. 

Lincoln   {alone). 
Fredericksburg !  Chancelorsville !  Oh  why ! 
Anew  that  Fatal  Line  is  drawn  in  blood 
Against  our  cause,  and  deeper  gapes  than  ever 
Between  us  and  the  goal  of  all  our  toil ; 
The  crimson  flood  runs  full  to  overflow, 
And  always  flings  us  back  upon  our  bank 
Whenever  we  dare  try  to  cross  its  bound. 
Not  merely  once  the  lesson  has  been  trounced 
Into  our  very  souls  with  reddened  pain, 
But  twice  upon  us  falls  the  penalty 
Again,  until  we  swoon  for  loss  of  blood. 
But  why  defeat's  ensanguined  repetition 
Aye,  this  repeated  repetition's  Hell ! 

(359) 


360       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII . 

Is  then  that  Fatal  Line  some  stronger  God 

Who  can  defy  our  will  to  pass  beyond 

And  e  'en  punish  us  for  such  attempt  ? 

The  Proclamation  of  enfranchisement 

By  which  I  thought  to  win  the  Upper  Powers 

Has  not  to  us  lured  once  a  victory, 

But  rather  has  it  brought  the  deeper  scourge 

With  sting  of  doubt  in  Providence  Himself, 

M'Clellan  could  not  budge  the  boundary, 
Which,  fortressed  high  as  Heaven's  battlements. 
Within  his  soul  rose  up  impregnable ; 
And  so  I  had  to  shift  him  from  command. 
But  whose  the  talent  which  can  take  his  place? 
That  army  never  riped  a  general, 
The  monster  somehow  could  not  grow  a  head 
Which    all    might    see    and    shout:    "Behold    the 

leader ; ' ' 
Though  many  men  of  stellar  shoulder-straps 
With  soldier 's  lore  and  patriotic  zeal 
Performed  the  daily  tasks  of  mediocrity.    , 
At  last  I  diced  a  choice  at  hazard's  throw, 
Burnside  I  took,  a  worthy  officer, 
Who  did  not  wish  the  place,  and  voiced  himself 
Unequal  to  the  opportunity. 
Then  followed  fast  the  bodeful  clash  of  arms 
With  fresh  inscription  in  the  gore  of  thousands 
Which  drew  the  Fatal  Line  at  Fredericksburg. 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  3J1 

And  still  no  leader  bulked  above  the  mass, 

The  soldier's  genius  fell  down  self-defeated. 

So  I  once  more  must  grip  the  bag  of  luck 

And  try  to  draw  the  prize  of  generalship. 

I  chose  a  man  more  famed  for  fight  than  headship, 

Addicted  to  his  dram  and  blatancy, 

Which  I  dared  hope  by  warning  to  correct. 

And  ban  all  obstacles  to  his  success. 

But  at  the  very  point  of  Fortune's  sword 

Our  fighting  Joe  turned  fightless  suddenly, 

And  coupled  with  his  name :  Chancelorsville ! 

Where  was  rewrit  in  crimson  characters 

The  fated  lesson  of  the  parting  line. 

To  scholar  us  with  bloody  repetition. 

Our  army  has  again  been  whirled  aback 

In  lurid  energy  from  its  assault 

Upon  the  wall  between  the  North  and  South 

As  if  that  were  God's  sacred  demarcation. 

Are  then  the  Presences  wdiose  messages 

Impressed  me  with  their  signature  divine 

Fate's  weaklings  of  the  age's  furious  clash? 

In  agony  I  cite  them  to  my  bar 

Of  judgment  for  their  broken  promises. 

Who  breathed  me  hope,  though  voiceless  and  un- 

viewed 
Then  whelmed  me  to  this  maelstrom  of  despair. 


362       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHI TE  HO USE—B OOK  XXII. 

Or  has  tliat  Upper  Cabinet  of  mine 

"Which  has  so  seemed  to  guest  at  home  mth  me, 

Abiding  here  at  will  in  residence 

Been  but  a  lying  choir  of  spirits  damned, 

To  take  advantage  of  my  melancholy. 

Perchance  a  cohort  of  black  devildom 

Sent  to  abuse  my  gift  of  fantasy 

Unto  perdition  of  my  cause  and  me  ? 

That  higher  Presence  to  whose  best  I  list. 

Invoking  it  to  guide  my  very  soul 

And  to  direct  my  world's  last  governance, 

May  be  old  Satan 's  self  in  fresh  disguise 

Of  airy  shapes  from  mine  own  mint  of  brain. 

In  which  he  masks  the  better  to  beguile  me. 

And  thus  to  snare  my  soul  in  his  false  wiles. 

Slipping  into  my  prime  creative  self 

The  deeper  to  bedamn  me  and  mine  own. 

The  devil  may  obsess  my  consciousness — 
But  hold !  I  must  not  spin  so  far  and  fine 
The  gossamers  of  dread  imagination ; 
I  must  bethink  me  of  this  striking  minute ; 
Our  army  marching  up  Potomac's  valley 
A  monstrous  megatherium  headless  crawls, 
Like  some  huge  coil  of  the  primeval  globe ; 
Almost  unbrained  is  its  huge  organism. 
Colossal  in  its  courage  and  its  strength. 
But  dangerous  to  friend  and  to  itself 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  363 

Unless  concentred  newly  in  a  head, 
"Which  will  direct  aright  its  mighty  limbs 
Against  the  pressing  foe  who  has  resurged 
Afresh  across  the  battle-line  to  us, 
And  makes  for  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 
I  know  not  what  to  do,  and  yet  must  do 
At  once,  to  meet  the  quick  emergency; 
M'Clellan's  name  is  in  those  soldiers'  hearts 
And  often  rises  to  their  lips  outspoken. 
And  I  may  have  to  call  him  back  again — 
Not  yet — that  cannot  be — though  it  may  be. 

All  of  my  famous  Generals  have  failed. 

So  I  am  forced  to  try  another  way, 

A  fameless  officer  shall  be  my  choice 

One  who  has  done  high  duty  unobtrusive, 

For  nought  remains  but  this  blind  lottery. 

And  yet  the  Fatal  Line  I  fear  in  all, 

So  deeply  charactered  by  time  and  wont 

From  its  first  birth  within  our  Constitution ; 

It  has  been  graved  on  the  Atlantic  mind. 

Which  now  must  meet  and  crush  its  very  self; 

Against  it  I  have  launched  my  Proclamation, 

Erased  the  bound  between  the  slave  and  free 

Under  the  seeming  favor  from  on  high. 

But  now  I  dare  to  oath  my  creed  Satanic : 

The  promise  to  me  is  not  kept  above, 

I  doubt  that  Upper  World  to  be  the  truth : 


364       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII. 

I  challenge  God  here  to  defend  himself 
Before  my  high  tribunal  of  Judge  Conscience ; 
I  make  the  charge  proved  by  these  new  defeats 
Right  in  the  face  of  our  great  edict  east, 
The  Lord  Himself  is  a  secessionist. 

And  now  there  speeds  this  way  the  shadowy  flight 

Of  Presences  invisible  but  felt 

Which  hover  over  me  in  mockery 

As  I  toss  on  my  vision-breeding  couch. 

But  longer  I  shall  hearken  not  to  lies, 

Though   they  be  vouched  for  by  the  Powers  of 

Heaven. 
Avaunt  ye  spectral  falsehoods,  brood  of  Hell ! 
With  guile  ye  make  yourselves  pretend  to  me 
My  honest  ghosts  with  messages  of  truth 
Sent  from  supernal  sources  down  to  earth. 
Henceforth  I  ban  ye  with  my  execration 
From  every  nook  and  chamber  of  this  White-House 
Where  ye  have  lodged  unbidded  in  my  home 
And  found  the  way  unto  my  faith  and  heart, 
The  ministers  of  Pandemonium. 
Ye  sneaking  guests  disguised  in  welfare's  mask 
Away !  I  shall  with  you  no  more  commune, 
Betrayers  of  my  holiest  confidences, 
I  damn  you  with  my  black  infernal  curse 
Which  is  your  own  hurled  back  from  me  to  you: 
Forever  I  abjure  all  intercouse — 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  S65 

Stop !  hark !  a  rap !  a  strange  response  to  me ! 
The  door  unlatches  by  a  mortal  hand. 

Lamon. 
What  means  this  maddened  talk — with  whom  and 

why! 
Let  me  dare  enter,  though  without  your  call; 
At  home  I  felt  the  pull  to  you  in  haste, 
And  could  not  stay  myself  against  the  hand 
Which  gripped  my  heart  and  fain  would  drag  it 

forth 
Out  of  my  very  breast  into  your  presence. 
But  say  it  me,  why  such  confusion  here, 
As  if  you  had  been  wrestling  with  a  fiend  ? 
I  heard  you  storming  loudly  with  yourself, 
For  I  can  see  nobody  here  who  speaks. 
And  yet  your  voice  was  pitched  in  high  defiance 
Which  toned  a  challenge  to  the  very  death. 
Tell  me  who  was  it  ? — I  would  lend  my  help. 

Lincoln. 
Lamon,  I  feel  the  better  for  your  voice, 
It  calms  my  mood  already  to  renounce, 
And  soothes  me  to  a  higher  resignation. 
Your  tone  of  friendship  lays  my  stormy  sea 
And  charms  the  rage  in  every  drop  of  blood. 
But  oh  the  paroxysm  seethes  again, 
I  feel  myself  in  a  revolt  with  Heaven 
Who  has  refused  to  seal  my  cause  with  victory. 
Belied  his  promise  given  for  my  edict — 


366       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII. 

Lamon. 
Hold!  turn  away!  Keep  off  your  thoughts  from 

that ! 
How  wild  your  look  distracted  rolls  above 
As  if  you  dared  to  death  what  rules  beyond ! 
Your  glittering  eye-balls  from  their  inner  pit 
Are  flinging  flakes  which  scintillate  Inferno. 
Your  straight  lank  hair  stands  lodged  upon  your 

head 
Like  cornfield  curled  in  a  tornado's  gust. 

0  Lincoln,  turn  your  face  unto  your  friend : 

1  would  give  help  to  ban  your  hidden  foe, 
I  never  saw  you  looking  so  before. 

Lincoln. 
Already  you  have  fortified  my  heart, 
The  music  of  your  voice  has  gleamed  me  hope ; 
Still  I  must  fight  to  flight  my  devils  own. 
You  cannot  put  them  in  your  Marshal's  prison, 
Or  hunt  them  to  their  hell  with  sword  and  shot, 
As  you  can  treat  the  plotters  of  rebellion.     • 
Alas !  I  am  the  rebel  now  myself 
Revolted  from  the  guidance  of  the  Gods. 

Lmnon. 
For  such  arrest,  0  friend,  I  bear  no  writ, 
And  still  I  hope  to  serve  you  in  that  war. 
Grasp  me  in  hand,  and  call  me  now  again 
Consoler,  mediator,  priestly  friend, 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  367 

As  you  have  done  before  in  nighted  gloom ; 
Bethink  yourself  once  more  of  your  great  task 
On  which  the  ages  pivot  just  to-day, 
Remember,  you  belong  not  merely  to  yourself 
But  to  the  cycle  of  all  History. 
So  free  yourself  from  your  own  brooding  self 
And  live  the  timeless  life  of  very  Time, 
Of  it,  in  it,  and  yet  above  it  whole, 
The  guerdon  winning  thus  of  immortality. 
Methinks  your  steadied  eyes  speak  readiness, 
Your  mien  has  even  smiled  acceptance  new 
Of  that  high  order  which  we  call  divine. 
Let  us  come  down  to  work  which  is  at  hand 
And  presses  for  decision  on  the  spot. 

Lincoln. 
With  all  my  might  I  force  me  to  recall 
Myself  to  Earth  from  the  despair  of  Hell. 
But  must  I  start  again  vain  labor's  task 
To  heave  the  stone  of  fabled  Sisyphus? 
No  longer  myth  but  realized  in  me, 
Who  after  more  than  toils  of  Hercules, 
Have  to  begin  anew  where  I  began. 
And  make  the  same  old  round  in  streams  of  lilood. 
Damned  to  the  gory  treadmill  of  Moloch 's  rites  ? 

Lamon. 
Withdraw  your  mind  from  here  and  think  the  West, 
Where  Grant  is  sweeping  down  the  Mississippi, 


3G8       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII . 

And  soon  will  cleave  its  chains  until  its  mouth, 
Breaking  the  final  link  to  make  it  free, 
Wherewith  the  Fatal  Line  out  there  is  gone 
And  soon  must  weaken  here  to  its  last  break. 

Lincoln. 
That  is  the  word  to  stanch  my  bleeding  heart, 
And  drip  me  balm  for  my  infernal  pains. 
0  Lamon,  you  have  charmed  my  solacer 
Out  of  the  clouds  of  my  environment 
"Which  hid  from  me  the  promise  of  the  Valley, 
Though  I  was  born  and  reared  its  very  child. 
The  rainbow  I  can  see  across  the  mountains; 
You  point  the  arch  of  iridescent  hope 
Which  yet  will  reach  to  overbend  us  here, 
Crossing  forever  our  fixed  Line  of  Fate. 
And  now  methinks  I  see  the  chosen  way 
In  which  the  Upper  Powers  wisely  move 
Unto  their  goal  of  due  accomplishment. 

Lamon. 
Let  us  then  seize  the  hope's  recovery 
To  meet  the  crisis  roaring  round  our  gates.    " 
Lee  wheels  his  soldiers  to  Potomac's  bound, 
And  seems  to  mean  invasion  of  the  North. 
Our  army  is  deploying  steadily, 
To  shed  attack  wherever  this  may  strike. 
Valiant  and  yet  unfaithed  of  leadership 
It  grimly  marches  to  its  duty's  trial. 
Is  there  to  be  a  change  of  Generals  ? 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  SQ9 

Lincoln. 

The  sorest  word  in  all  my  dictionary 

You  tongue  me  in  that  petty  vocable ! 

A  General!  A  Leader  who  can  lead 

Our  soldiery  across  the  Fatal  Line 

And  break  the  fetter  of  our  destiny ! 

Him  I  have  sought  in  every  avenue, 

Have  prayed  for  his  descent  from  God  above; 

But  he  has  not  come  down  at  cry  of  mine. 

And  so  I  picked  from  out  the  mass  a  man 

Of  whom  you  scarcely  have  once  heard,  I  deem, 

Meade  is  the  choice  whom  I  have  hazarded 

To  buffet  Fortune's  frantic  waywardness — 

A  Dame  most  damned  for  her  frivolity. 

Lamon. 

That  army  will  repel  the  foe's  attack 

Of  its  own  instinct's  push,  though  leaderless; 

Such  is  its  might  defensive  of  its  line ; 

But  when  it  turns  to  make  assault  beyond. 

That  is  the  pinch  which  seems  to  crush  its  will. 

Lincoln. 

You  see  the  point  on  which  my  problem  turns. 
Has  turned,  and  will  perchance  to-morrow  turn. 
But  now  we  have  to  wait  the  clash  of  arms 
Watching  to-day  the  keen  arbitrament. 


370       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII. 

Lamon. 

Enough !  I  must  make  haste  to  mine  own  cave, 
From  which  I  tread  with  guards  the  underworld 
Which  has  its  lightless  eyes  for  seeing  night. 
But  when  your  mood  shall  overpower  you, 
My  Lincoln,  cast  your  sight  on  your  own  skies 
Where  you  will  glimpse  above  your  prairie 's  tilth 
The  star-lit  hope  of  rising  Hesperus. 


LINCOLN'S  CURSE.  37I 

Lincoln  (alone). 
I  feel  the  guilty  weight  of  crushing  sin 
As  if  God's  universe  piled  on  my  heart, 
So  that  I  droop  me  down  in  supplication. 
Ye  Upper  Presences,  come  back,  I  pray, 
"Whom  I  have  cursed  in  bitter  blasphemy 
When  I  saw  not  the  better  way  ye  wrought 
To  win  the  Union's  consecration, 
And  so  unfaithed  me  of  your  governance. 
Mine  own  short  sightedness  I  dared  too  much, 
Too  sudden  was  my  fool's  expectancy 
That  through  my  edict  of  enfranchisement 
The  Powers  above  would  interpose  down  here. 
Perchance  in  fight  appear  in  their  own  shapes. 
As  once  the  Gods  came  down  from  skied  Olympus 
And  warred  upon  the  plains  of  towered  Troy. 
Thus  we  were  to  behold  with  human  eyes 
By  one  supernal  blow  dealt  out  of  Heaven 
The  Powers  breaking  through  our  mortal  Fate, 
Just  at  the  battle-line  so  often  fixed 
Against  ourselves  with  bloody  demarcation. 

Now  I  confess  my  sin's  f oolhardiness ; 
I  ought  not  dare  direct  that  higher  world 
Which  has  its  own  procedure  and  its  goal, 
Whose  providential  order  I  must  find 
And  then  I  humbly  may  co-operate. 
Already  I  can  glimpse  me  reconciled 


372       LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXII. 

With  the  world's  government  and  with  myself; 
I  see  the  light  along  that  "Western  Eiver 
Whose  flood  upbears  our  Nation's  destiny, 
And  flows  on  hope's  own  highway  to  the  Future. 
Here  I  repent  me  of  my  hasty  doubt 
And  do  unsay  me  of  my  blasphemy ; 
I  shall  pray  back  my  Upper  Cabinet 
Which  I  in  curse  had  banned  out  of  my  life, 
Hearting  it  with  a  new-born  hospitality. 
But  hark — a  note  of  the  last  clash  of  arms ! 
The  newsboys  shout :  a  fight  at  Gettysburg ! 


100k  Cixrtntg-CIjkir, 


The  Fourth  of  July,  1863. 

Seward  alone. 

Suspense !  suspense !  that  is  the  demon  whose 
infernal  bat-wings  overhang  to-day  our  Washing- 
ton, covering  even  noon-tide  with  the  pall  of  night ! 
This  awful  anxiety  is  not  merely  in  my  mind,  the 
air  itself  is  leaden  and  weighs  me  under  it  with 
a  pressure  never  felt  before.  Down  the  Missis- 
sippi the  great  battle  decisive  of  its  Valley's 
future  is  reported  raging ;  the  stake  is  vast  though 
somewhat  remote.  But  what  strangles  me  with  a 
fiendish  care  is  the  conflict  now  at  height  in  Get- 
tysburg; three  days  has  surged  the  desperate  bat- 
tle; the  last  news  leaves  it  unsettled  still.  Can  we 
push  Lee  and  his  Southern  legions  back  from  our 

(373) 


374     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXIII. 

North  into  their  own  territory?  Or  will  the  vic- 
torious South  dictate  its  terms  to  us  here  in  Wash- 
ington? Methinks  yon  Capitol  quakes  in  anxious 
dubitation. 

And  to-day  is  our  festal  anniversary  of  the  Na- 
tion's birth.  Four  score  and  eight  are  the  years 
which  have  circled  over  us  from  then,  when  we  cut 
by  violence  the  natal  cord  which  tied  us  to  our 
English  mother.  This  morning  I  read  the  strong- 
worded  pronouncement  of  1776  wdth  many  a  re- 
flection; that  was  an  act  of  separation,  of  seces- 
sion, of  revolt,  which  our  rebels  claim  as  their  pro- 
totype ;  some  of  our  seceding  States  re-affirmed  that 
document  of  Jefferson,  But  now  the  tide  of  time 
runs  different — we  are  to  unify  and  not  separate. 
The  Constitution  made  the  Union,  but  left  within 
it  the  ever-wadening  rift  of  slavery  which  now  the 
Nation  has  to  close  or  die.  Emancipation  has  been 
proclaimed  by  the  President,  erasing  the  line  be- 
tween slavery  and  freedom,  w^here  lies  all  the  trou- 
ble. That  is  the  new  Declaration  of  Independence, 
far-reaching  as  the  first,  and  to-day,  I  hope,  will 
be  the  new  Fourth  of  July  for  the  Nation  here- 
after. But  alas!  this  latest  act  of  freedom  has 
not  been  stamped  with  the  seal  of  victory;  some- 
how the  Powers  above  do  hesitate,  withholding 
their  approval.  Just  now  I  recall  high  Zeus  weigh- 
ing the  two  Fates  of  success  and  defeat  in  his 


THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1863.  S75 

Olympian  balance ;  I  can  almost  see  him  yonder  on 
the  mountain  holding  his  golden  scales;  up  and 
down  teeter  the  two  sides,  and  I  with  every  rise 
and  fall  am  thrilled  through  and  through  with  the 
lightning  of  hope  and  despair.  I  cannot  endure 
the  shocks,  I  must  flee — but  whither?  Escape  om- 
nipresence I  cannot,  and  this  suspense  is  omni- 
present, hung  over  this  city,  this  country,  this 
planet,  aye  this  universe,  methinks. 

Well,  somehow  I  have  dropped  into  Lincoln's 
vein,  I  have  caught  from  him  these  intimations  of 
the  Upper  Presences,  which  seem  to  brood  over 
me  to-day,  and  over  the  time  pregnant  with  mighty 
occurrences.  I  need  him,  and  possibly  he  needy 
me,  as  he  often  says ;  I  shall  go  and  commune  with 
him  a  little  while.  But  see !  here  he  comes  and 
enters  the  open  door, 

Lincoln. 

Indeed !  I  rather  thought  you  were  waiting  for 
me,  as  I  was  for  you.  I  come  to  get  relief  from  the 
anxiety  which  dilacerates  me.  To-day  is  the  great 
pay-day  of  the  centuries;  each  side  is  paying  off 
long-accumulated  debts;  the  accounts  of  ages  are 
being  squared  and  the  balance  struck  in  blood, 
both  in  near-by  Pennsylvania  and  in  far-off  Mis- 
sissippi. It  is  the  most  significant  of  our  national 
holidays;  the  Gods  are  to-day  celebrating  their 
Fourth  of  July,  not  ours.     The  Nation  is  chiefly 


376     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXIII. 

looking  on  in  unspeakable  suspense,  though  some 
of  its  people  are  terribly  employing  gunpowder — 
not  in  fun  but  in  deadly  clash.  Seward,  the  time. 
the  atmosphere,  the  very  sunshine  seems  peniten- 
tial; there  is  a  divine  penalty  hovering  over  us, 
yea  lurking  within  us.  Now  I  understand  Pur- 
gatory. 

Seward. 
Certainly  I  have  been  feeling  something  of  the 
sort  all  day,  waiting  for  the  outcome.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  transmitted  American  custom,  I 
started  to  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence; 
I  shall  have  to  confess  that  it  seemed  no  longer  to 
fit  the  present  Fourth  of  July,  which  is  in  process 
of  being  made  over.  The  stress  then  w^as  upon  di- 
vision, rebellion;  now  it  goes  the  other  way.  Still 
I  pondered  the  old  document  with  new  reflections. 
I  tell  you,  Mr.  President,  we  are  making  the  grand 
settlement  to-day  whether  we  shall  lapse  to  sepa- 
rated Europe  or  advance  to  united  America.  In 
fact  the  outlook  reaches  much  farther,  as  I  have 
heard  you  intimate:  it  is  being  now  decided 
whether  the  world  shall  continue  an  eternal  grind 
between  rasping  national  and  racial  boundaries,  or 
become  the  one  great  unitary  federation  of  nations 
and  races,  with  peace  universal.  This  Fourth  of 
July  is  the  new  turning-point  of  total  History.  No 
wonder  that  the  very  Earth  seems  oppressed  with 


THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  18G3.  377 

the  new  duty,  and  makes  us  feel  sympathetic  in 
suspense  at  her  throeful  parturition  of  the  young 
ffion. 

Lincoln. 

Excellent,  Mr.  Orator!  Your  lofty-toned  words 
elevate  me  into  their  skiey  region  of  faith  and 
hope,  of  which  I  am  in  dear  need.  But  let  me 
surprise  you  with  the  remark  that  I  have  not  been 
reading  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or  other 
patriotic  lore,  but  a  very  ancient  piece  of  writ,  the 
Book  of  Job.  Doubtless  you  can  judge  somewhat 
of  my  mind  at  present  by  such  a  choice.  I  never 
before  understood  that  precious  bit  of  biblical  ex- 
perience. I  am  Job,  I  feel  me  put  under  divine 
training;  I  have  to  learn  what  is  misfortune,  de- 
feat, suffering,  even  death  of  the  most  beloved. 

Seward. 
I  have  noticed  it,  and  must  tell  you  that  your 
life  has  deepened  mine.  I  have  often  thought  that 
you  were  born  to  suffer,  it  is  a  part  of  your  great 
calling  at  the  present  time  which  is  an  era  of  uni- 
versal suffering,  an  epoch  of  the  Nation's  supreme 
tribulation.  You  bear  all  its  sorrows  in  you,  and 
therein  you  are  its  deepest,  truest  representative. 
How  you  respond  to  the  bereavement  of  the  widow 
and  the  orphan!  Sometimes  I  have  to  think  that 
there  beats  in  your  bosom  the  whole  huge  folk- 


378     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXIII. 

heart,  so  compassionate  are  you  with  its  thousand- 
fold throbs  of  war-wrought  woe.  In  that  I  go  to 
school  to  you  daily,  taking  a  lesson  every  time  I 
hear  you  speak  or  intone  your  piteous  voice.  The 
Great  Exemplar  whom  we  adore,  was  such  through 
being  the  Great  Sufferer.  Man,  when  he  touches 
the  bottom  of  his  being,  worships  suffering  as  the 
ultimate  fact  of  his  own  godlike  nature.  In  such 
a  time  as  this  the  whole  People  is  crucified,  nailed 
as  it  were  to  the  cross  of  suffering,  in  the  agony 
of  the  age's  mighty  transition.  I  look  upon  you 
and  behold  not  merely  an  individual's  anguish,  but 
a  world's,  which  is  mirrored  in  you;  many  are  be- 
ginning to  have  that  same  vision  of  you,  and  with 
the  clarification  of  the  years  it  will  come  to  all. 
Such  is  the  divine  lesson  which  you  have  taught 
me,  though  you  be  unconscious  of  it,  and  you  are 
imparting  the  same  lesson  to  every  soul  that  en- 
ters your  presence.  0  friend,  teacher,  redeemer, 
do  not  think  that  your  suffering  is  lost;  it  is  your 
supreme,  all-embracing  gift,  that  which  makes  you 
savior  of  the  Nation  and  of  yourself,  yea  even  of 
me. 

Lincoln. 

No  greater  comfort  could  be  given  to  a  poor 

sorrowed  human  heart  than  what  you  have  spoken. 

It  soothes  me  to  reconciliation  with  my  lot  and 

with  the  Order  above  me,  against  which  I  some- 


THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1863.  379 

times  revolt  to  sheer  defiance,  yea  to  downright  ex- 
ecration. At  least  once  or  twice  I  have  sunk  to 
that  damnation.  Do  you  know  I  felt  some  relief 
when  I  read  Job's  words  charging  God  wath  in- 
justice, even  with  cruelty,  and  with  deluding 
wretched  man  ?  Job  too  suffered  quite  to  the  point 
of  sinking  to  unbelief  in  the  good  Providence.  I 
could  not  forbear  a  throb  of  sympathy  with  him 
for  the  sake  of  myself,  as  I  conned  the  passage  in 
the  light  of  my  own  experience. 

Seward. 
I  question  if  I  could  get  as  much  out  of  Job  as 
I  do  out  of  you,  though  with  j^our  living  commen- 
tary I  shall  this  night  turn  to  that  book  again.  I 
may  note,  however,  this  seeming  difference  between 
you  and  Job :  he  represents  nobody  but  himself, 
his  is  a  purely  individual  relation  between  himself 
and  his  God,  whereas  I  cannot  think  of  you  with- 
out taking  you  as  the  embodiment  of  your  People, 
of  your  age;  you  are  rather  a  national  Job,  per- 
chance a  world-Job,  not  simply  a  personal  one, 
and  you  have  to  be  scourged  and  disciplined  by  the 
Upper  Powers — not  merely  for  your  own  perfec- 
tion, but  for  your  Nation's,  perchance  for  your 
race's.  Then,  0  friend,  let  me  add,  you  own  love, 
you  touch  its  source  in  every  heart,  you  have 
roused  it  in  me,  and  made  it  active,  as  never  be- 
fore. 


380     LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXIII. 

Lincoln. 

That  would  be  indeed  my  ambition,  but  I  know 
too  well  my  shortcomings.  I  never  could  reach 
M'Clellan's  affection,  though  he  had  a  goodly  por- 
tion of  mine.  And  I  never  could  quite  find  the 
heart  of  the  Potomac  army,  though  I  have  not  yet 
given  up  the  effort.  But  the  thought  of  it  brings 
us  back  to  the  furious  battle  which  that  army  is 
now  waging  for  us.  See!  in  the  nick  comes  the 
messenger !  What,  two  telegrams !  Break  them 
open  and  read. 

Seward. 

Two  victories !  surrender  of  Vicksburg  to  Grant ! 
Repulse  of  Lee  at  Gettysburg!  Great  God!  this 
doomsday  of  suspense  is  cracking  overhead ! 

Lincoln. 

So  to-day  turns  out  a  new  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July.  The  bell  rings — the  tocsin  of  an 
epoch !  The  war  seems  rounding  a  corner  at  last, 
and  to  start  the  march  toward  its  close.  Let  us 
hurry  off  to  hear  the  telegraph. 


§oah  Ctoentg-Jfniittlj. 


Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg. 

Penning  a  letter  with  uplifted  heart 

From  which  the  words  flowed  in  the  ink  to  paper, 

For  the  two  victories  on  one  great  day, 

Here  in  the  East  and  yonder  in  the  West, 

This  of  the  older  States,  that  of  the  new, 

Lincoln  was  seated  at  his  desk  alone, 

And  pondered  what  these  battles  twinned  might 

mean 
Born  the  same  hour  in  mighty  throes  of  pain 
Which  told  the  Nation's  palingenesis. 
Well  he  bethought  their  strange  identity 
Which  tied  them  to  one  point  of  sundering  time, 
And  coupled  them  in  might  to  one  high  cause. 
But  soon  he  passed  to  muse  their  difference, 

(381) 


382      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXIV. 

So  far  apart  in  space  and  character, 

As  well  as  in  the  kind  of  victory, 

And  in  the  consequences  sprung  of  both. 

Each  deed  of  arms  he  felt  as  some  far  forecast, 

The  symbol  of  events  yet  to  be  born, 

Which  he  had  to  construe  as  President. 

While  in  such  mood  he  sensed  within  his  view 

The  sudden  coming  of  the  Presences 

Who  dropped  at  their  own  will  into  the  White- 

House, 
The  meeting  of  the  Upper  Cabinet 
Called  by  themselves  at  time's  articulation, 
Where  the  historic  cycle  starts  afresh 
Its  node  of  revolution  round  the  ages. 
So  he  again  began  to  hold  communion 
With  that  weird  otherwhere,  his  overworld 
Which  ran  its  strain  ideal  through  his  sensed  life, 
Immortal  part  bound  with  mortality, 
]\Iaking  eternal  what  belongs  to  Time, 
Impressing  God's  advice  upon  the  man 
Through  avenues  hid  in  presentiment. 

But  now  behold  the  transformation  new 
Which  rises  from  those  shapeless  Presences 
As  they  walk  out  of  shadowy  evolution 
Into  fixed  forms  of  our  humanity, 
Whose  outlines  rounded  in  the  yielding  haze 
With  languaged  lips  just  ready  for  a  word. 


GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG.  383 

Two  private  soldiers  soon  they  hatch,  themselves 

Out  of  the  circumambient  nest  of  air, 

Both  uniformed  in  blue  with  tilted  caps, 

The  belted  cartridge  box  around  their  loins, 

A  bayoneted  musket  in  their  hands, 

Nor  failed  the  dangling  cup  and  haversack. 

But  each  slipped  in  from  opposite  directions : 

One  marched  in  stately  step  out  of  the  East 

And  tipped  his  head  in  military  mien ; 

The  other  trod  his  easy  Western  gait 

Dressed  in  free  blouse  and  tattered  overcoat, 

Unshined  his  shoes,  unpolished  drooped  his  buttons 

And  were  not  always  present  in  their  ranks. 

And  still  he  eyed  the  goal  without  a  flinch 

Letting  parade  be  minded  on  itself. 

Lincoln  addressed  them  both  drawn  up  before  him. 

United  in  one  link  yet  different: 

"Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  soldier  boys  in  blue! 

But  tell  me,  what  may  be  your  errand  hither? 

Are  you  the  bearers  of  some  messages 

From  distant  battlefields  where  fight  now  rages?" 

Both  strangely  spoke  at  once  in  unison: 

' '  We  come  to  celebrate  with  you  our  deeds 

Done  on  our  Nation's  Independence  Day; 

We  would  restore  the  Union  of  these  States 

Preserving  with  it  freedom  for  our  People. ' ' 


384      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHI TE  HO USE—B OOK  XXIV. 

Then  Lincoln  answered  with  his  voice  enkindled: 

"Both  of  yon  brave  and  patriotic  too, 

You  speak  a  common  purpose  in  your  hearts 

To  which  you  offer  life  as  sacrifice. 

Alas !  I  have  to  think  now  of  our  foes, 

As  honest  and  as  valorous  as  we, 

Fighting  for  what  they  hold  to  be  the  right 

And  yet  we  deem  them  wrong  in  thought  and  act. 

That  is  the  pang  which  we  must  often  feel, 

Conscience  we  have  to  crush  by  violence. 

And  yet  we  too  affirm  as  rule  our  conscience. 

But  never  mind  this  moody  turn  of  mine: 

I  wish  to  hear  whence  both  of  you  have  come. 

Of  the  same  regiment  you  cannot  be, 

You  seem  to  hail  from  regions  quite  diverse, 

"With  charactery  writ  in  ways  and  looks. ' ' 

The  Western  soldier  clenched  his  gun  more  firmly. 

And  made  one  daring  lurch  as  if  assailant, 

Then  shot  his  words  like  bullets  through  the  air : 

"From  Vicksburg  I  to  greet  our  President    - 

Who  keeps  himself  a  comrade  like  ourselves." 

The  Easterner  stood  stiff  and  soldierly. 

He  toed  the  line  aright  with  polished  shoes, 

But  showed  no  inner  push  to  cross  its  bound. 

While  still  obeying  his  superior ; 

How  fine  he  looked,  well-postured  in  his  stand ! 

His  musket  vied  in  sheen  with  his  brass  buttona 


GETTYSBURG  AND  YICKSBURG.  385 

"Well-kempt,    well-fed,    with    store    of    meat    and 

crackers, 
Aesthetic  in  his  graceful  turns  and  whiskers, 
He  trimmed  his  answer  to  the  President : 
"From  Gettysburg  I  come  with  salutation, 
To  tell  of  this  war 's  greatest  victory. ' ' 
Lincoln  stood  silent  at  the  words  of  each, 
Weighing  the  triumphs  of  his  armies  both, 
When  the  two  soldiers  faced  each  other  squarely. 
And  then  began  to  voice  their  mutual  strains : 

Getty  shurger. 
The  fierce  assault  of  Lee  has  been  repulsed 
When  he  once  dared  attack  us  on  our  line ; 
He  has  been  driven  back  from  Northern  bounds. 
No  more  to  vex  the  State  of  Penn  or  Maryland. 

Yickshiirger. 
Broken  again  by  us  has  been  the  line. 
As  once  we  did  before  at  Donelson ; 
And  we  shall  breach  it  still  and  wipe  it  out 
Wherever  it  be  drawn  against  our  marching  host. 

Gettysburger. 
The  enemy  re-cross  Potomac's  flood 
In  haste  to  tread  once  more  their  Southern  land ; 
Let  them  assail  us  if  they  only  dare, 
We  shall  hurl  back  their  bravest  soldiery. 


386      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXI7. 

Yicksburger. 

Our  Mississippi  flows  now  to  the  Gulf, 
Without  a  fortressed  foe  to  chain  its  course, 
Its  Valley's  people  welded  are  to  one 
"Without  division  of  the  South  from  North. 

Gettysburg  er. 

We  have  expelled  the  dread  invader's  horde 
From  our  free  soil  to  land  of  slavery, 
Methinks  he  will  not  try  so  soon  again 
To  cross  Potomac's  fluid  boundary. 

Yicksburger. 

But  see  our  Mississippi 's  newest  flow, 
No  longer  rolling  wroth  within  itself. 
But  surging  joyfully  it  leaps  unfettered, 
It  sighs  no  more  its  course  half -slave,  half-free 
Its  fury  turns  to  rage  of  liberty. 

Gettyshurger. 
We  Gettysburgers  shall  again  march  forth,  . 
(How  often  have  we  done  the  same  before!) 
And  take  position  on  the  battle-line 
Against  the  files  of  the  Confederacy, 
Keady  to  spend  our  blood  for  the  Union's  cause. 

Yickshurger. 
Vicksburgers  we  who  never  can  be  halted. 
But  shall  sweep  on  and  on  to  seek  the  foe. 


GETTYSBURG  AND  VICK8BVRG.  387 

And  cleave  his  ranks  embattled  wherever  found ; 

Already  we  are  wheeling  to  the  East, 

And  soon  shall  burst  on  your  Atlantic  coast, 

Headed  again  by  Generals  our  best. 

Whom  we  have  reared  from  our  own  people's  ranks. 

Gettyshurger. 

I  must  not  fail  to  tell  what  thrilled  me  most 

As  I  stood  ranged  for  fight  at  Gettysburg: 

A  rumor  darted  up  like  lightning  streaked, 

And  leaped  as  sudden  spark  from  tongue  to  tongue 

Electrifying  all  our  regiment: 

"M'Clellan  is  again  to-day  our  leader!" 

The  shout  ran  through  our  own  brigade  at  once 

Then    rolled    in    waves    through    all    the  field  of 

fighters, 
And  echoed  far  along  the  battle's  front; 
Whence  it  might  come  no  one  has  ever  told. 
Or  who  did  start  that  strange  hallucination. 
For  such  we  found  it  at  the  close  of  day 
When  it  had  done  its  work  inspiring  us, 
And  filled  our  hearts  with  throb  of  victory. 
In  yell  responsive  then  we  smote  our  foes 
As  they  advanced  up  to  us  haughtily 
So  that  they  soon  recoiled  back  to  their  lines 
Whence  they  had  charged  upon  our  cannonry. 
I  must  confess  the  fact  of  mine  own  soul: 
Around  M'Clellan's  wraith  we  fought  the  day. 


388      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE— BOOK  XXIV. 

And  deemed  we  heard  the  voice  of  his  command 

Amid  the  furious  fusilade  of  arms, 

Encouraging  to  conquer  though  we  die. 

That  ghostly  rumor  bubbled  up  unwilled 

Out  of  the  underself  of  that  great  army, 

Where  lies  enthroned  alone  our  Little  Mac 

As  the  ideal  beloved  of  all  our  troops. 

The  chevalier  of  noble  soldiery. 

But  now  I  come  to  speak  my  last  appeal, 

Like  him  the  shade  of  the  reality : 

Give  back  to  us  M'Clellan's  flesh  and  blood, 

That  we  no  longer  have  a  ghost  as  leader ; 

0  President,  restore  him  to  our  hearts! 

VicJcshurger. 
Pardon  my  laugh,  whose  rise  I  cannot  choke 
With  my  wee  tinct  of  Western  courtesy ; 
But  let  me  fairly  state  the  solid  fact: 
At  Vicksburg  we  nor  saw  nor  heard  the  spooks, 
But  had  the  actual  Grant  before  us  there 
Directing  the  assault  upon  the  w^alls. 
Behind  whose  battlements  the  foe  lay  hid 
Seeking  to  hold  the  line  which  he  would  breach, 
And  thus  to  keep  division  of  the  Union. 
Already  Grant  had  broken  through  that  line, 
And  was  again  about  to  hit  it  there 
A  shivering  blow,  when  it  was  yielded  up 
With  all  its  garrison  and  war's  munitions. 


GETTYSBURG  AND  VICK8BURG.  389 

I  too  may  voice  to  yon,  0  President, 
My  fervent  prayer  for  which  I  came  so  far : 
The  breaker  of  the  Fatal  Line,  our  Grant, 
Bring  from  the  West  and  give  supreme  command 
That  he  do  here  just  what  he  has  done  there, 
Supplanting  by  his  deed  M'Clellan's  WTaith, 
Which  seems  still  to  command — " 

The  flow  of  words  unfinished  on  the  air 
Had  stopped  in  sudden  halt  their  rivalry 
For  Lincoln  sprang  up  from  his  dreamy  couch 
Tense-nerved,    full-orbed    of    eye,    and    statured 

straight. 
Peeping  about  upon  the  vacant  space 
Where  those  two  soldiers  stood  erstwhile  in  talk ; 
But  they  had  fled  and  yet  had  left  within 
His  sounding  soul  a  loud  reverberation. 
Which  roundly  shouted  to  his  brooding  self 
The  echo  of  his  own  soliloquy, 
Unconsciously  preluding  what  he  thought. 
The  deepest  layer  in  his  mental  life 
He  now  was  ware  and  outered  it  in  words: 

"Colossal  figure  of  M'Clellan  still! 
His  very  ghost  yet  dominates  his  army ; 
I  cannot  help  me  worshipping  that  love, 
That  love  undying  for  his  personality. 
Beneath  whose  image  his  devoted  soldiers 


390      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE— BOOK  XXiy. 

March  to  the  very  death  in  ecstacy, 

With  vision  of  their  leader  on  the  clouds ! 

And  yet  that  love  is  what  I  have  to  meet, 

Alas !  encounter  it  in  mortal  combat 

As  that  which  now  most  stands  in  way  of  Union. 

The  shadow  of  M'Clellan  I  must  fight, 

For  it  commands  above  me  yonder  army, 

And  honest  Meade,  the  appointed  General, 

Is  more  its  officer  than  mine,  I  fear. 

Even  if  unaware  of  what  he  is. 

But  what  now  threatens  me  with  sorer  trouble 

Is  that  the  shadow  of  M'Clellan 's  name 

Has  winged  itself  beyond  its  military  field 

Into  the  new  domain  political. 

Where  it  will  fortress  forces  of  disunion, 

And  seek  to  win  a  love  within  the  folk. 

There  too  I  have  to  grapple  with  M  'Clellan, 

Whose  dragon  still  confronts  me  with  oped  jaws 

Even  among  the  people  of  the  North. 

That  is  my  newest  Fate  which  I  must  cleave ; . 

The  spectral  soldier  touched  the  note  aright 

Saying  that  I  must  call  Grant  from  the  West 

To  break  the  Fatal  Line  here  in  the  East, 

That  it  may  bar  no  more  my  way  to  Richmond. 

But  what  if  Grant,  the  Western  limit-breaker, 
Should  fail  to  break  the  stubborn  limit  here, 
Where  he  is  separated  from  his  own — 


GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG.  391 

His  soil,  his  river,  and  his  soldiery? 
Perchauce  the  task  may  be  too  great  for  him, 
As  it  has  been  for  me,  though  I  must  try  it. 
Let  all  this  come,  at  any  rate  I  see 
The  way  to  circumvent  Atlantic  Fate, 
As  it  has  been  revealed  by  bloody  struggle : 
In  those  new  States,  the  children  of  the  Union, 
There  is  no  North,  no  South,  no  Fatal  Line 
Once  drawn  by  slavery  on  our  Nation's  face; 
It  has  been  blotted  out  by  the  huge  hand 
Smiting  from  yon  gigantic  free  North-West 
To  make  its  valley  free  just  like  itself, 
From  Mississippi's  mouth  up  to  her  fountain. 
That  army  having  done  its  first  great  task. 
And  broken  down  its  bound  of  liberty. 
Is  setting  out  in  mighty  tread  of  valor 
For  these  old  States  beside  the  hoary  Ocean. 
With  it  is  marching  my  best  hope  of  Heaven, 
Which  saves  me  from  the  hellish  fiend  Despair, 
And  keeps  me  from  the  curse  of  God  Himself 
Whose  way  I  see  through  fiery  discipline, 
So  that  I  hold  myself  the  more  in  tune 
With  intercourse  of  higher  Presences. 

And  now  there  overflows  my  brooding  soul 
A  flight  of  far-borne  reminiscences, 
Which  whisper  me  again  my  talk  with  Douglas, 
Who  pointed  to  the  stream-bed  of  our  River, 


392      LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HO  USE—BOOK  XXIV. 

And  designated  it  the  marching  road 

For  us  to  do  the  Nation's  winning  deed, 

And  circle  all  the  States  into  new  Union. 

His  word  foresaid  me  mine  own  deepest  presage, 

Which  I  had  felt  far  down  in  depths  unspoken, 

And  tuned  me  to  a  note  I  still  remember : 

'That  valley  is  the  way  to  our  salvation.' 

So  spake  I  then  to  sympathetic  Douglas 

Who    thought    with   me    the    thought    of    all    my 

thoughts, 
And  fellow-felt  with  me  my  very  heart. 
Yea,  we  had  dreamed  together  the  same  dream 
Which  he  re-echoed  when  I  told  it  him, 
That  we  can  never  reach  revolted  Charleston 
Unless  we  follow  our  great  River's  lead, 
And,  wheeling,  turn  the  road  to  Washington. 
So  I  had  dreamed  Fort  Sumter's  troubled  night 
The  way  which  now  the  Hours  realize : 
And  in  my  vision  I  had  heard  me  named : 
'Lincoln,  your  own  true  people  of  the  West 
Are  coming  round  to  see  you  at  the  Capital, 
And  in  their  might  to  break  the  Fatal  Line 
Which  has  been  drawn  so  long  against  you  here. 
But  I  must  tell  to  you  the  counterstroke : 
With  their  last  victory  they  bring  your  judgment, 
With  Nation  resurrected,  you  are  to  die. 
To  Richmond  you  shall  go  and  take  your  seat 
Within  the  vacant  Presidential  chair, 


GETTYSBURG  AND  VICESBVRG.  393 

But  then  you  shall  return  to  Washington 
To  meet  the  appointed  hour  of  Destiny, 
For  the  united  folk  will  be  your  doom.'  " 

At  the  recital  of  his  ancient  dream 

Just  to  himself,  the  President  sprang  up 

And  stood  as  if  he  faced  the  Presences : 

''Then  welcome,  Fate,  I  bid  thee  hasten  hither! 

Though  thou  me  slay,  I  shall  co-erce  thee  still, 

I,  master  of  thee  through  thine  own  success, 

I,  conqueror  of  life  in  very  death, 

Stamping  my  impress  on  my  Nation's  loftiest  deed 

Just  in  my  personal  evanishment; 

Immortal  I  through  my  mortality. 

By  ministry  I  win  Fate's  mastery. 

So  let  me  do  and  let  me  die,  I  would  not  stay 

The  coward  victim  blanched  of  Destiny ; 

The  lord  of  all  my  suffering  I  rise 

To  wrench  from  Fate  my  immortality, 

Deathless  dowered  by  my  dying  deed." 


\miaxxt  lixlimatbns. 


Book  First.  On  the  morning  of  April  14,  1861, 
the  news  of  the  bombardment  and  capitulation 
of  Fort  Sumter  had  reached  Washington.  At 
once  it  was  felt  that  the  crisis  of  war  or  peace 
had  arrived.  In  the  forenoon  Lincoln  and  his 
Cabinet  assembled  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  and 
a  proclamation  was  drafted  by  the  President,  and 
approved  by  the  Cabinet.  But  it  was  not  sent  forth 
till  the  next  day,  of  which  it  bears  the  date  (April 
15). 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Lincoln  during  that 
Sunday  afternoon  (April  14)  was  much  perplexed 
about  issuing  the  proclamation.  As  regards  him- 
self and  his  party,  the  previous  political  canvass 
had  shown  a  divided  North  and  a  united  South. 
Practically  no  Republicans  existed  in  the  South, 
while  in  the  North  there  were  nearly  as  many  non- 
Republicans  as  Republicans,  who  had  elected  him. 
Upon  this  division  in  the  North  the  South  had 
based  much  of  its  hope.  (Popular  vote  of  Lin- 
coln 1,857,610;  of  Douglas  1,291,574.) 

The  key  of  the  situation  was  held  by  Douglas, 

(394) 


HISTORIC  INTIMATIONS.  395 

who  had  remained  in  Washington,  well  foreseeing 
the  power  which  time  was  placing  in  his  hands. 
Really  it  was  not  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  who 
threw  the  casting  vote  for  issuing  the  proclamation 
which  called  for  75,000  men,  but  Senator  Douglas. 
Without  him  and  his  following  the  conflict  had 
better  not  begin,  at  least  had  better  be  deferred. 
This  fact  nobody  appreciated  more  fully  than  Lin- 
coln himself.  His  longing  that  Sunday  afternoon 
to  see  Douglas  must  have  been  little  short  of 
agony.  The  latter  after  while  sent  him  a  request 
for  an  interview.  Very  pale  compared  to  his  feel- 
ings are  the  words  of  Lincoln's  biographers  (Nicolay 
&  Hay)  :  "It  is  safe  to  say  none  were  personally 
so  welcome  and  significant  as  the  unreserved  en- 
couragement and  adhesion  of  Senator  Douglas." 
(Vol.  Ill,  p.  86.) 

Quite  all  that  we  know  directly  of  this  epoch- 
turning  conference  is  contained  in  the  brief  para- 
graph: "Douglas  went  to  the  Executive  Man- 
sion between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  on  this  Sun- 
day evening,  April  14,  and  being  privately  re- 
ceived by  the  President,  these  two  remarkable  men 
sat  in  confidential  interview,  without  a  witness, 
nearly  two  hours."  (Nicolay  &  Hay,  do.)  Lin- 
coln never  afterwards  told  what  was  said  at  this 
conversation,  being  amply  occupied  with  other 
matters;   Douglas  never   left   any   account   of  it, 


396  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

having  died  a  few  weeks  later,  which  were  also 
very  full. 

And  yet  the  actual  war  for  the  Union  takes  its 
decisive  start  out  of  this  interview,  set  a-going  by 
the  joint  wills  of  these  two  supreme  leaders,  hitherto 
in  opposition,  now  in  co-operation.  But  History 
has  no  document  of  what  was  spoken,  and  so  leaves 
us  in  the  lurch  at  this  point,  surely  the  most  im- 
portant event  of  this  earlier  period  of  the  war.  But 
if  the  Muse  of  History  deserts  us,  the  Muse  of 
Poetry  enters  the  field,  truly  her  own,  and  recon- 
structs from  what  went  before  and  came  after, 
that  which  must  have  passed  between  these  two 
pivotal  men  of  the  time. 

Book  Second.  Says  Biographer  Herndon,  Lin- 
coln 's  law  partner  for  many  years :  ' '  He  always 
contended  that  he  was  doomed  to  a  sad  fate,  and 
he  repeatedly  said  to  me  when  we  were  alone  in 
our  office:  'I  am  sure  I  shall  meet  with  some  ter- 
rible end. '  ' '  Most  of  the  biographers  give  the 
details  of  the  vision  of  himself  as  double  in  a  mir- 
ror just  after  his  election  in  1860.  Indeed  "the 
thing"  repeated  itself  three  times  before  it  finally 
vanished.  His  inference  from  it  was :  "  I  am  fated 
to  be  taken  off  by  a  violent  death."  All  this  has 
its  superstitious  side,  but  such  a  view  by  no 
means  exhausts  this  phase  of  Lincoln's  character; 
it  was  his  way  of  deeply  communing  with  himself 


HISTORIC  INTIMATIONS.  397 

and  with  the  regnant  powers  which  he  felt  to  be 
over  him. 

Book  Third.    The  Cabinet  which  Lincobi  started 
with  is  listed  as  follows: 

W.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  New  York. 

S.  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  TrearAiry,  Ohio. 

Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  AVar,  Pa. 

Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Conn. 

C.  B.  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Ind. 

Edward  Bates,  Attorney  General,  Missouri. 

M.  Blair,  Postmaster  General,  Maryland. 

Book  Fourth.  Herndon  observes  that  Lincoln 
(this  was  during  his  Springfield  life)  was  "con- 
stantly endeavoring  to  unravel  his  many  dreams. ' ' 
He  had  his  own  dream-world  which  always  meant 
to  him  something,  and  became  his  expression  of 
what  others  may  have  reached  through  philosophy 
or  religion.  Another  friend  of  many  years  (See 
Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln)  dwells  on  Lincoln's  ten- 
dency to  presentiment  and  revery,  which  were  evi- 
dently his  form  of  construing  the  inner  nature  not 
only  of  himself,  but  of  the  world. 

Book  Fifth.  The  First  Proclamation  contained 
the  call,  issued  to  the  various  States  which  had  not 
seceded,  for  troops  (75,000)  to  put  down  the  re- 
bellion already  begun  in  the  Cotton  States. 
As  already  intimated,  it  was  not  given  out 
till    it    received    the    sanction    of    Douglas,    who 


398  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

sent  forth  the  next  morning  his  call  alongside  of 
the  President's  Proclamation,  that  he  "would  sus- 
tain the  President  in  the  exercise  of  all  his  consti- 
tutional functions  to  preserve  the  Union,  and  main- 
tain the  Government,  and  defend  the  Capital," 
though  still  "opposed  to  the  Administration  on 
all  its  political  issues."  This  seeming  exception 
was  really  in  the  interest  of  uniting  both  parties 
in  support  of  the  Union. 

Book  Sixth.  Of  the  Southern  States  at  this 
time  Virginia  may  be  taken  as  the  best  represen- 
tative— not  so  devoted  to  Secession  as  the  Gulf 
States,  nor  so  devoted  to  Union  as  the  Border 
Slave-States.  It  had  elected  a  Union  Convention, 
which,  however,  was  determined  to  dominate  the 
Union.  Lincoln  summed  up  not  only  the  A^irginia 
attitude  but  the  Virginia  consciousness  in  one  of 
his  telling  metaphors:  "Your  (Union)  Conven- 
tion in  Eichmond  has  been  sitting  now  nearly  two 
months  and  all  that  they  have  done  has  been  to 
shake  the  rod  over  my  head."  No  prominent 
statesmen  appears  above  Virginia's  horizon  at  this 
time;  perhaps  her  most  typical  public  man  in 
mind  and  action  was  Judge  George  W.  Summers, 
President  of  the  Union  Convention. 

Book  Seventh.  The  falling-off  in  Virginia's 
statesmanship  at  the  time  of  war  was  strikingly 
compensated  by  the  superiority  of  her  soldiership. 


HISTORIC  INTIMATIONS.  399 

Her  genius  seems  to  have  turned  military  from  its 
former  supreme  political  bent. 

Book  Eighth.  Lamou  was  the  chosen  intimate 
of  Lincoln,  taken  by  the  latter  from  Illinois  to 
"Washington,  who  said  to  him:  "I  want  you  with 
me  if  there  is  to  be  a  fight.  *  *  *  You  must 
go  and  go  to  stay."  (Lamon's  Recollections  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  edited  by  Dorothy  Lamon,  p. 
29.)  Secretary  Usher,  who  was  in  "Washington 
during  the  period  of  the  war,  writes  concerning 
Lamon:  "You  were  with  him,  I  know,  more  than 
any  other  one,"  and  "he  gave  free  expression  of 
his  opinions  and  of  his  trials  and  troubles"  to  you 
(Lamon)  as  "his  confidential  friend  during  the 
time  he  was  President."  (Letter  dated  1885, 
cited  in  preceding  book,  Preface.) 

On  the  death  of  Ellsworth,  see  Lincoln's  letter 
to  his  parents  (Works  II,  p.  52)  :  "In  size,  in 
years,  and  in  youthful  appearance  a  boy  only,  his 
power  to  command  men  was  surpassingly  great. 
This  power,  combined  with  a  fine  intellect,  an  in- 
domitable energy,  and  a  taste  altogether  military, 
constituted  in  him  the  best  natural  talent  in  that 
department  I  ever  knew."  Ellsworth  also  had  ac- 
companied Lincoln's  Presidential  party  from  Illi- 
nois. 

Book  Ninth.  For  the  political  matters  here 
discussed  see  Lincoln's  Message  to  Congress,  July 


400  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

4,  1861  (Works  II,  p.  55).  For  the  personal  inci- 
dents, see  Lincoln  &  Ann  Rutledge,  Book  VIII, 
and  Lincoln  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  passim. 

Book  Tenth.  The  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  was 
fought  July  21,  1861.  First  part  of  the  day  was 
favorable  to  the  Federals.  Then  the  cry  arose: 
' '  Johnson 's  army  has  come ! ' '  and  the  panic  be- 
gan. Yet  there  was  a  panicky  flight  on  the  other 
side,  which  met  Jefferson  Davis  coming  from  Rich- 
mond to  Manassas.  Says  the  Confederate  General, 
J.  E.  Johnston :  "The  Confederate  army  was  more 
disorganized  by  victory  than  that  of  the  United 
States  by  defeat."  He  says  that  pursuit  was  im- 
possible. Still  he  clung  to  his  part  of  the  field 
while  Federals  fled. 

Book  Eleventh.  The  factious  spirit  of  the 
Unionists  of  Missouri,  and  especially  in  St.  Louis, 
caused  Lincoln  more  trouble  than  the  State's  Dis- 
unionists.  For  an  account  of  Mrs.  Jessie  Benton 
Fremont,  see  Nicolay  &  Hay's  Lincoln  IV,  p.  413. 
Lincoln  said  of  her  afterwards:  "She"  sought  an 
audience  with  me  at  midnight  and  taxed  me  so 
violently  with  many  things  that  I  had  to  exercise 
all  the  awkward  tact  I  have  to  avoid  quarreling 
with  her.  She  more  than  once  intimated  that 
General  Fremont  *  *  *  could  set  up  for  him- 
self." 


HISTORIC  INTIMATIONS.  401 

Book  Twelfth.  M'Clellan  gave  to  Lincoln  the 
greatest  personal  problem  of  his  administration — 
problem  both  military  and  civil. 

Book  Thirteenth.  The  marked  distinction  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western  armies  in  charac- 
ter and  achievement  began  to  show  itself  decisively 
at  Fort  Donelson. 

Book  Fourteenth,  William  Wallace  Lincoln 
died  Feb.  20,  1862.  Lincoln's  deepest  domestic  af- 
fliction (see  Carpenter's  account,  Six  Months  at 
the  White  House,  p.  116).  Repeatedly  he  shut 
himself  up  and  gave  wa}^  to  his  melancholy  and 
sorrow.  A  clergyman  was  called  and  from  this 
event  some  have  dated  a  religious  change  in  Lin- 
coln.    The  boy  was  in  his  twelfth  year. 

Book  Seventeenth.  It  is  now  generally  agreed 
that  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  was  the 
central  act  of  Lincoln's  Administration.  It  has 
turned  out  one  of  those  historic  deeds  whose  great- 
ness increases  with  the  perspective  of  years.  The 
President's  first  suggestion  of  it  to  the  Cabinet 
was  made  about  July  22,  1862,  amid  great  disas- 
ters. Seward  favored  it,  but  urged  that  it  be  post- 
poned till  it  was  backed  up  by  military  success. 
Lincoln  followed  this  view,  saying  that ' '  its  wisdom 
struck  him  with  great  force."  After  the  victory 
of  Antietam,  the  subject  was  again  brought  before 


402  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

the  Cabinet  by  the  President  (Sept.  22).  Of  this 
epochal  meeting  two  members  of  the  Cabinet 
(Chase  and  Welles)  have  left  accounts  in  their  dia- 
ries, noting  particularly  the  manner  of  Lincoln. 
Chase  writes,  citing  the  President :  "  I  determined, 
as  soon  as  it  (the  rebel  army)  should  be  driven 
out  of  Maryland,  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  eman- 
cipation. I  said  nothing  to  any  one,  but  made  the 
promise  to  myself  and  (hesitating  a  little)  to  my 
Maker.  The  rebel  army  is  now  driven  out,  and 
I  am  going  to  fulfil  that  promise."  The  account 
of  Secretary  Welles  is  differently  worded,  but  is 
of  the  same  general  purport :  ' '  The  President  re- 
marked that  he  had  made  a  vow,  a  covenant,  and 
that  if  God  gave  us  the  victory  in  the  approach- 
ing battle,  he  would  consider  it  an  indication  of 
Divine  Will,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  move  for- 
ward in  the  cause  of  emancipation.  God  had  de- 
cided this  matter  in  favor  of  the  slaves.  He  was 
satisfied  it  was  right,  was  confirmed  and  strength- 
ened in  his  action  by  the  vow  and  the  results.  His 
mind  was  fixed,  his  decision  made,  but  he  wished 
his  paper  announcing  his  course  as  correct  in 
terms  as  it  could  be  made  without  any  change  in 
his  determination."  (The  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles, 
I,  143;  also  Warden's  CJiase,  p.  481-2.)  Very  im- 
pressive and  significant  of  Lincoln  are  both  these 


HISTORIC  INTIMATIONS.  403 

statements;  the  comment  lies  near  that  his  other 
Cabinet  has  made  the  decision  and  is  voicing  it 
through  him  to  his  appointed  Cabinet. 

This  first  Proclamation  was  admonitory;  but  as 
the  warning  remained  unheeded,  the  second  and 
actual  edict  of  freedom  was  issued  January  1,  1863. 

Book  Twenty-Fourth.  The  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg ought  to  have  been  as  decisive  as  that  of 
Vicksburg ;  but  it  was  not ;  why  ?  Military  author- 
ities have  said  again  and  again  that  Meade  let 
slip  his  opportunities;  the  President  also  thought 
so.  He  said:  "We  had  them  within  our  grasp, 
but  nothing  I  could  say  or  do  could  make  that 
army  move."  It  or  its  officers  or  both  acted  as  if 
they  deemed  their  task  fulfilled  in  repelling  the 
attack  of  Lee.  John  Hay  writes,  citing  his  diary : 
"Lincoln  had  been  most  unfavorably  impressed  by 
a  phrase  in  Meade's  general  order  after  the  vic- 
tory in  which  he  spoke  of  'driving  the  invader 
from  our  soil.'  Lincoln  said  upon  reading  it: 
'This  is  a  dreadful  reminiscence  of  M'Clellan,  it  is 
the  same  spirit.  *  *  *  Will  our  generals 
never  get  that  idea  out  of  their  heads  ?  The  whole 
country  is  our  soil.'  " 

As  to  the  Confederates,  their  statesmanship 
made  its  greatest  mistake  in  not  bringing  about 
peace  after  these  two  Federal  victories.    To  be  sure 


404  LINCOLN  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 

they  would  have  had  to  accept  Union  and  the 
abolition  of  slavery;  still  they  would  have  been 
spared  their  later  and  greatest  calamities.  But 
the  easy  escape  of  Lee  with  his  booty  seems  to  have 
filled  them  with  an  utter  contempt  of  Federal  gen- 
eralship, and  thereby  to  have  drawn  the  line  of 
separation  more  deeply  than  ever.  Hence  a  new 
Iliad  of  woes. 


BOOKS    BY  DENTON  J.  SNIDER 

PUBLISHED     BY 

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i.     Organic  Psychology.  ,  ^„ 

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6.  Psychology  of  History. 

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IV.  The  Lincoln  Tetralogy — An  Epos. 

1.  Lincoln  in  the  Black  Hawk  War 1.50 

2.  Lincoln   and  Ann   Rutledge 1-50 

3.  Lincoln  in  the  White  House 1.50 

4.  Lincoln  at  Richmond 1.50 

V.     Kindergarten. 

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2.  The  Psychology  of  Froebel's  Play-Gifts 1.25 

3.  The  Life  of  Frederick  Froebel 1.25 

VI.     Miscellaneous. 

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2.  The  Freeburgers    (a  novel) 1.25 

3.  World's    Fair    Studies 1.25 

4.  A  Tour  in  Europe 1-50 

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??^»t.v: 


